


How To Respond to a Coming-Out

by AVernedi



Series: MegaMan: Teenage Net Ops [1]
Category: Rockman.EXE | Mega Man Battle Network
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Asexual Character, Ensemble Cast, M/M, Post-Canon, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-24
Updated: 2020-09-12
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:34:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 34,805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26092702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AVernedi/pseuds/AVernedi
Summary: It was sometime after midnight. They had hit a lull in their conversation when Lan said, "Hey Chaud?""Mm.""I really am sorry about before. About you being gay."Chaud breathed. "It's alright.""No, I was a jerk. I just..." He could hear a faint rustling sound as Lan shifted on the bed. "I was surprised you didn't tell me, that's all." There was an undercurrent of vulnerability in his voice. "I thought you would have.""Oh." Chaud looked up at the ceiling. He took a deep, quiet breath, feeling steadied by the way his lungs expanded and his shoulders rose and fell. "I'm sorry too. I should have told you. I just didn't think."Lan made a kind of hum in response. "That's okay." They were both quiet for a moment. "Hey are we cool?" he asked finally.Chaud felt himself smile. "We're cool."Chaud Blaze came out to Lan Hikari on his seventeenth birthday. He didn't plan for it to happen, and it didn't exactly go smoothly. Lan had kind of figured Chaud was a fellow asexual and was completely unprepared for what he actually said.They figure it out from there.
Relationships: Blues | Proto Man / Rockman | Mega Man, Hikari Netto | Lan Hikari/Ijuuin Enzan | Eugene Chaud
Series: MegaMan: Teenage Net Ops [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1933924
Comments: 25
Kudos: 18





	1. The Coming Out

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! If you're reading this I'm actually very surprised. ^ ^ But before you start I just want to specify that I watched the English version of Mega Man NT Warrior on the Kids WB when I was young, so all the characters here are based on that. For any of you only familiar with the Japanese version of Mega Man Battle Network or NT Warrior, two important things to note:  
> 1\. Mega Man in the English is not Lan's twin.  
> 2\. Beyond that, who Mega Man is as a person in the English is completely different. In the Japanese he's played as a shy little boy but in the English he is much more of a responsible, confident, and sassy character. He also comes across as much older than Lan developmentally, and often looks out for him.

Chaud Blaze spent his 17th birthday with Lan Hikari. Not that this was an unusual development. They were friends now, best friends in fact (well, best human friends). It wasn't even that unusual that Lan was the only one coming; Chaud had never really liked his birthday and while he had a social group of sorts now, on his "day" he felt entitled to do exactly what he wanted. 

" _Oh, so you're telling me you don't do exactly what you want every other day too?_ " quipped the Lan Hikari who lived in his head.

He had messages, of course. He had a formal one from Chief Keefer on behalf of the department, he had a short but warm one from Famous, and a peppering of cheery notes from Lan's friends, long since his friends too. He even had one from Rakia and SearchMan, which in substance barely came to more than "It is your birthday" but it was appreciated nonetheless. His favorite message was from Raoul and ThunderMan, accompanied with a package, an original hard disk copy of a game that was over half a century old. The disk itself, miraculously, was in mint condition. "I'm sure you can figure out some way to play this," Raoul's note said. 

Chaud had called him to thank him. "How did you even find this? Who was your connection?"

"I know a guy who knows a guy." The smile was clear in his voice. "Happy birthday, kiddo."

The front door opened just then and his butler's soft voice could be heard, followed by an unmistakable, more strident one. He breathed deeply and headed for the foyer. _Lan._

The butler knew Lan well by this point and they were talking comfortably as Chaud approached. "It's always so good to see you in clean clothes Master Lan," the butler intoned. But there was a twinkle in his eye.

"Hey thanks. Love what you've done with the mustache by the way." Then Lan caught sight of Chaud. His face lit up. "Chaud! Hey! Happy birthday!" he said. Bounding forward, he shoved two cartons of food into Chaud's hands. 

"Thanks," he said, not even trying to hide his smile. Lan always brought him homemade cake. It was a nice gesture because as Lan himself put it, Chaud already had everything " _except my mom's cooking_."

"Hey guess what? This year I made it myself," Lan told him proudly. 

_Huh._ And except Lan's cooking apparently. "Well, then I guess I really have to pretend to like it," Chaud said, enjoying the resulting squawk of "hey!" that earned him. 

"Oh I made curry casserole too," Lan said, taking the red-carpeted stairs ahead of him two at a time, completely secure in his welcome. Chaud ignored the warmth in his chest as he followed.

"What's curry casserole?" 

"Only my new favorite food." Lan turned enough to toss a smile at Chaud over his shoulder. 

_One more year,_ Chaud thought. "Can it really be a new favorite food if it's made of your old favorite food?" 

"Sure it can."

Puberty had hit Lan like a ton of bricks. He had grown _again_ this past summer and was now well over six feet tall. Chaud, who had stopped growing at 5'11"-and-a-half, was haunted by this. That he had a crush on Lan was nothing new. He'd had a crush on Lan since he was 13 years old. There was something horrifyingly fascinating about watching the person you liked grow taller, grow stronger, hearing their voice get deeper, and watching their shoulders get broader. 

Sure, there was the fact that he was pretty sure Lan was asexual, but Chaud tried not to let it bother him. Just being Lan's favorite person was a good position to be in. He had seen Lan run out of important events and across busy streets to say goodbye to him if Chaud was trying to slip away unnoticed. He frequently woke up to a slew of texts about what Lan had found funny at 2:00 in the morning. Hell, just a few months ago, they'd been invited to a tech expo for work, and Chaud had asked _"So who's your plus one?_ " 

" _Aw, what do I need a plus one for?_ " Lan had said with a grin. " _I have you_."

Chaud still thought about that sometimes.

"Where are we going?" Lan asked, stopping abruptly at the beginning of the hallway. "Why am I leading?" 

"Why would I know?" Chaud asked, slipping ahead of him. "I don't know what goes on in your head."

"Hey, that's no way to treat a guest."

"You're not a guest, you're a vampire. I made the mistake of inviting you in and now I can't get rid of you."

"Wow, rude," Lan said but he was grinning. Chaud was too.

Chaud took them to the gaming room. "VR first? Or do you want to watch the movie?"

"I've been dying to try that new game. MegaMan too, isn't that right?"

"Absolutely," the familiar voice confirmed from Lan's side. "I'm always excited for a little friendly competition." 

"And I'm always excited to kick your ass," ProtoMan's voice answered. Chaud caught Lan's eye. Lan wrinkled his nose.

"Get a room, you two," Chaud said.

"We have one," ProtoMan said smugly. Still holding eye contact Chaud got to watch as Lan's expression soured comically.

"This is like hearing your parents flirt," he complained, scooping up the remote with one large hand and turning on the tv. 

ProtoMan and MegaMan had been together for about two years. It had taken ProtoMan some time to find his feet again after the Nebula incident, but once he did, he told Chaud he could no longer see the point in ignoring certain things. 

" _You should talk to Lan too_ ," Protoman had said, not even bothering to pretend that this wasn't any of his business. " _Trust me_."

" _You may be onto something,_ " Chaud had replied. " _But I'd like to wait. Until I'm 18 at least_." 

" _Why what's at 18—Oh_ ." Protoman's voice colored with understanding. " _Then you can touch the money._ "

" _Exactly_ ." The money in his trust fund. The money that meant independence from his father's company, if he wanted it. " _I'll be free to do whatever I like then._ " Whether or not Lan reacted well, Chaud felt like it would be the perfect time to make a fresh start.

It wasn't to say he felt trapped now, exactly. Sometimes, like when he was plugged into the VR, fighting Lan and MegaMan and Protoman in a free-for-all, he felt incredibly free. 

They went through different combat stages, different modes, and different team-up combinations. The most interesting one was him and MegaMan vs. Lan and Protoman. Chaud didn't get a lot of one-on-one time with the fourth member of their little group.

"Everyone has weaknesses," Chaud was saying absently as they waited for the round to start.

"Can it really be called a weakness if you're equally advanced in all areas? I mean, a weakness implies you're worse in that area than you are at everything else."

"Are you trying to tell me you're good at everything?"

"Everything in this game, yeah."

"Really." Chaud raised an eyebrow at him. The loading roam was a dark sort of limbo. The character selection menu hung in front of them lazily, at the ready in case they changed their minds.

"What can I say, I'm a well-rounded guy."

Chaud laughed too, a huff through his nose. He respected the confidence. "Then I'm sure we'll have no problem winning this."

These kinds of fighting games had existed for years, colorful free-for-alls featuring a host of characters with different move-sets, advantages, and disadvantages. Their production had slowed a bit with the advent of net navis and real AI but it had never totally stopped. And now that it was possible to put humans in the game _with_ net navis, their popularity was back full force.

"We're playing whoever we want this round, right?" Lan's voice asked over the selection menu. Chaud heard MegaMan hum in the affirmative. "Good, you guys better watch out."

"As if I don't know all your tricks," MegaMan teased.

Then they were in. 

The four of them landed on the stage and Lan burst out laughing. " _What?_ " Chaud demanded, already knowing where this was going. 

"Oh man," Lan said, gesturing. "I can _not_ get over it."

Chaud glared. Part of the game was that whatever character you selected, it put you into the outfit of. And if you picked a character who happened to be an anthropomorphized animal, of which the game had several, you got their ears. And tail. And as it just so happened, Chaud's preferred character was a military fox with a gun.

"At least there's a difference between my character and what I wear in real life," he returned, putting on his most judgmental face to look at Lan's striped shirt and tall white socks and stupid sideways baseball cap. 

"You should wear ears in real life," Lan said. "They're so cute." 

Chaud had come to be grateful years ago for the fact that he seemed physically incapable of blushing. "You're not gonna find it cute once we kick your ass." 

"Yeah, you shouldn't let your guard down Lan," MegaMan said, hopping up onto Chaud's shoulder. He was the real cute one here Chaud felt, his character selection having turned him into a small yellow rabbit thing. 

"Aww, now you guys are even cuter together." Lan wiped away a pretend tear. "It's... kind of beautiful actually."

"Are we gonna talk?" ProtoMan interrupted, reaching to draw his sword. "Or are we gonna fight?"

"Start the countdown then," Chaud told him.

"You got it."

One of the best things about this game, objectively, was the fact that any character could grapple any other character, regardless of size. It never failed to be amazing to see MegaMan's furry little body fully immobilize ProtoMan's beefy sword fighter, tiny paws incapable of reaching around his neck. Chaud saw this out of his periphery, on the level below, as he threw up a shield to counter Lan's fire attack. The fire fizzled out. Chaud dropped his shield and charged.

"Lava!" MegaMan called out the warning from below.

Chaud cursed under his breath. "I _hate_ this stadium."

"This stadium hates you too!" Lan called already charging for the lower levels. Chaud ran after him.

The stage had spawned a tiny shelter at its base, a glass domed thing that all four of them just barely fit into. It was a house rule that you didn't fight while you were in it. The four of them huddled together and watched the lava go pouring over the outside of the window. Chaud looked at the other's out of the corner of his eye. Even though they were on opposite sides, MegaMan had climbed up onto Lan's shoulder. Cute indeed.

The window cleared. MegaMan grabbed Lan by his stupid hat and flipped him right back out onto the stage. ProtoMan swung at Chaud, and the fight picked back up as the shelter vanished around them. 

Afterwards, they put the movie on, and ate dinner. And though Chaud was reluctant to admit it, Lan was right—Curry casserole was pretty good. He couldn't help the small noise of surprise that came out his mouth when he took his first bite. Then quickly took a second one. 

Lan burst out laughing. "See? Told you!"

Chaud tried to reel it in. It didn't help that he was a sucker for home cooking. "Well," he said with as much dignity as he could manage. "It's not ethically-sourced bluefin tuna but I suppose it'll do."

"' _It'll do?_ '" Lan grinned at him knowingly. "Nuh-uh, no way I saw that look on your face." 

"There was no look on my face, Lan." Chaud turned away, lifting his chin proudly. "It was a trick of the light."

Lan grinned. "You know that's what they say about babies, right?"

"What?" _Who says babies are a trick of the light?_

"That they don't actually smile, they just have gas?"

Chaud choked on his curry. Lan laughed harder.

"Let's just start the movie please," Chaud muttered, reaching for his water glass. 

The movie was a kung fu one, something Tory and Dex had recommended to Lan. They all had a weakness for kung fu movies. Even Chaud as a kid had been excited to start learning self-defense because he thought it would make him a kung fu master. 

"I have pictures of Chaud trying to do the mantis pose," ProtoMan commented. "From when he was like five." It would be hard to explain to someone who didn't know them how it was a sign of closeness it was for ProtoMan to even bring this up. 

"You what?" Lan demanded, turning to stare at where ProtoMan's voice was coming from the PET. 

"Yeah. Pretty cute actually."

"I _am_ trying to watch this movie you know," Chaud announced, annoyance covering his embarrassment. 

"It was from your self-defense lessons, you remember that?" ProtoMan continued mercilessly. 

"MegaMan says I should learn self-defense," Lan said, unwittingly saving him from having to answer.

"I'm just saying it would be a good idea. There's plenty of stuff out there I can't save you from."

"What discipline?" ProtoMan asked. Chaud sighed and hit pause.

"Akido," MegaMan told him. 

ProtoMan snorted loudly. "You would."

"Hey! What's wrong with akido?" Lan demanded. Beside him on the couch, Chaud closed his eyes. He could feel his eyebrow tick upward. 

"It's all about defending yourself without hurting the other person," MegaMan said, clearly aware of ProtoMan's line of thought. 

"It's very on brand for you."

MegaMan was unperturbed. "Hey, it's a good brand to have."

"I am starting to regret being friends with any of you," Chaud said. "I am _trying_ to watch this movie." 

"So watch the movie," Lan said. "Why'd you pause anyway?" Chaud glared at him but there was a twinkle in Lan's eye that said he was being annoying on purpose. To get a rise on of him. Chaud hit him with a pillow.

Things went relatively okay until about 45 minutes in. The heroine and the male lead were kissing for the first time. It was fine, if too heterosexual for Chaud's tastes. Then the jackets came off. Then his shirt. As then as her shirt slithered to the floor, Chaud felt a sinking feeling in his stomach. This was going to be a sex scene. 

Chaud felt himself freeze, a classic display of that human instinct that said when a sex scene came on and other people were in the room, the best thing to do was to hold still and pray for it to be over. In his peripheral, he was aware that Lan was doing the same.

It was MegaMan, surprisingly, who broke the spell. "Well," his voice said with an ironic sort of cheerfulness. "I sure don't remember IceMan or GutsMan mentioning this."

Lan startled. "I think Tory might have?" He said it like a question, clearly too uncomfortable to read MegaMan's tone as rhetorical. "He and Dex kind of started talking about girls so I wasn't listening. But then this movie came up and they said it had good action scenes, so I thought?"

"Yeah." It was ProtoMan's voice this time, laced with sarcasm. There sure was a lot of nipple onscreen. "Good action scenes." 

The other thing about human instinct: skipping these scenes never seemed to occur to anyone. 

"Oh I remember!" Lan said, because Chaud could not catch a break. The heroine's boyfriend had his hands in her long black hair. "They were talking about hair pulling. They said some girls like getting their hair pulled." 

Chaud's voice did not betray an inkling of the fact that it was currently way too warm for him in here. "So in the context of a conversation about girls getting their hair pulled you took advice from them about which movies had good action scenes."

Lan looked thoroughly chastised. "Well when you put it that way...I just wanted to talk about something else!"

"That's not what they thought, Lan." The scene was mercifully fading to black.

"Oh come on!" 

"Guys tend to want to keep talking about those things." He felt the air more willingly start to fill his lungs again as the movie cut to the morning after.

"No they don't!" Lan protested. " _You_ never do."

Somewhere in there was a truly flattering implication that Lan considered him any kind of standard of masculinity but Chaud had bigger problems. He turned to look at Lan more fully. "Why would _I_ not want to keep talking about girls."

"What do you mean?"

"About girls."

"What about them?" Lan's brow was furrowed now. He still had the pillow Chaud had thrown at him in his lap. His broad hands looked especially tan against the white fabric.

"You know I'm gay right?" 

Lan's eyes went wide. Bless his guileless little heart, he absolutely could not hide the shock that came over his face. " _WHAT?!_ "

Chaud closed his eyes briefly and opted for the opposite reaction, turning back to the screen with impeccable calm. "I'm surprised you didn't know. I don't try to hide it."

"Lan, it's fine," MegaMan said. "Thank you for letting us know, Chaud." And Chaud felt a wash of gratitude come over him. 

He glanced over to Lan who was making some kind of effort to close his jaw at least. It was not enough of an effort that Chaud missed the quickest blip of disappointment that flashed over his friend's face. He stiffened and turned back to the tv. _Happy birthday to me._

"I mean, I know it's fine," Lan said, way too late. "I just was surprised. That's all."

"It doesn't take much to get something past you does it," Chaud said. 

"Come on, I'm sorry Chaud."

"Let's just finish the movie please." Something in his voice, or maybe it was simply the please, made Lan drop it.

They managed to hit their rhythm again as the movie progressed, mostly just absorbed in a plot that was actually pretty compelling. And at the very end, when the boyfriend showed up at her door, covered in the blood of her enemies, and their clothes fell to the floor, Chaud and Lan and ProtoMan just groaned in protest. Picking up the remote, Chaud fast-forwarded until the credits started to roll. 

"That was pretty good," MegaMan piped up, so earnestly that it made Chaud laugh. His birthday was enjoyable again. 

Lan didn't bring it up again until they were in bed for the night. They were in the Lan Room, which was not a name Chaud had come up with. Much to his private embarrassment, it was what the help called it. The Lan Room was a guest room that had two queen-sized beds. It was the only guest room with more than one bed in it, and it had more than one bed so that Chaud and Lan could have what Lan called "an actual sleepover." (Though Lan also said that, "a real actual sleepover" should involve at least one of them sleeping on the floor.

" _Well, sorry for being rich_ ," Chaud had said. It had made Lan laugh hard enough to wheeze.)

Lan was now lying on his back in his usual bed. Lan always lay spread-eagle on the bed as if his body was happy to finally have the space. Both their PETs were charging and Chaud felt certain they wouldn't hear from ProtoMan or MegaMan until the morning.

It was sometime after midnight. They had hit a lull in their conversation when Lan said, "Hey Chaud?"

"Mm."

"I really am sorry about before."

Chaud didn't bother pretending he didn't know what Lan meant. "It's alright."

"No, I was a jerk. I just..." He could hear a faint rustling sound as Lan shifted on the bed. "I was surprised you didn't tell me, that's all." There was an undercurrent of vulnerability in his voice. "I thought you would have."

"Oh." Chaud looked up at the ceiling. He took a deep, quiet breath, feeling steadied by the way his lungs expanded and his shoulders rose and fell. "I'm sorry too. I should have told you. I just didn't think."

Lan made a kind of hum in response. "That's okay." They were both quiet for a moment. "Hey are we cool?" he asked finally.

Chaud felt himself smile. "We're cool."

The next morning he woke up before Lan, as usual. Lan was not a morning person. He reached for his PET and saw that ProtoMan was there already, reading the news.

"Morning Chaud. I bookmarked some stuff you might find interesting." Nowadays navis created fashion mods for themselves and even ProtoMan indulged sometimes. Today his helmet was off and his hair was half pulled up. 

"Thanks," Chaud murmured. He tapped one of the bookmarks in question and began to read. It was written by a navi, about deep-web culture. Ever since Nebula it had slowly become more and more clear that the Darkloids weren't the only navis who had spawned without humans, they were just the most aggressive and outspoken. There were reports surfacing all the time of deep-web navis who lived out in the boondocks, like cyber swamp people. 

"Hey." ProtoMan's voice pulled at his attention again. 

"Hm?"

"You feeling okay? After yesterday I mean." ProtoMan kept the question quiet, probably aware that Lan had to be nearby. 

Chaud glanced over to where Lan was still fast asleep, chest visibly rising and falling. "I am," he said. "Thank you."

"Yeah. Just thought I'd check. You know."

"Yeah. Thanks." Chaud smiled at him. They went back to reading the news. 

Lan's breathing eventually became more shallow, until finally he stirred and stretched, yawning hugely. "Morning," he rasped, sitting up and rubbing at his eyes.

"Morning." Chaud surveyed Lan's impressive bed-head and sleep-softened face and felt fond. "I'll tell the kitchen we're up." He opened the app on his PET. 

"Mkay." Lan swung his legs over the side of the bed with effort, and stood up, wrapping his blanket around himself. He shuffled over to Chaud's bed, where he plopped himself down completely without ceremony. 

"Hey!" But Chaud couldn't pretend to be that mad. It wasn't like there wasn't room for both of them. And it was especially hard to protest when Lan was rubbing his face into Chaud's covers, trying to get cozy again. 

"So how's 17 so far?" Lan asked, the words coming out around a yawn. 

"Pretty much the same as 16." Chaud shuffled a little to get free of the hold the blankets had created under Lan's weight. It was always a little funny to him to see the difference in their pajamas. He had actually bought his as a set, something Lan had complained that nobody did. Still, considering that Lan wore old basketball shorts and a t-shirt his dad had brought him as a souvenir when he was 13, he was not in a position to talk. The shirt said " _Why yes, I AM a pirate_." It had a skull. It was badly stretched. Lan almost too big for it now and honestly, Chaud didn't particularly have an objection to that. But he also knew that Lan held onto gifts from his parents because well, his parents kind of ignored him. 

"You feel any different?" Lan's face was half-buried in Chaud's comforter, his body cocooned in his own blanket. His bare, hairy legs sticking out the end were actively disarming. 

"Sorry, can't say I do." Chaud smiled down at him. "I look any different?"

"Well from down here, you do look bigger." His voice was getting muffled. 

Chaud's PET flashed at that moment, the kitchen staff confirming that their meal was being prepared. Lan's voice got his attention again.

"Hey Chaud... I have a question...about the gay thing..." 

He inhaled quietly. "What is it?" 

"If you're gay, how come you don't have a boyfriend?"

Chaud's eyebrows jumped towards his hairline. "Excuse me?"

"Why don't you have a boyfriend?"

His heartbeat was suddenly way too loud. "I'm sorry, do you think when you're gay they automatically assign you a boyfriend?" 

"No!" Lan protested, poking his face fully out of the blanket now. "I just mean, you're a cool guy. You know?"

_Oh hell._ Chaud smiled in spite of himself. "Well. Thanks."

"I mean it," Lan mumbled, settling himself back in. 

"Sure." But the smile remained.

A comfortable kind of silence fell over them. Chaud's attention was drawn eventually back to his newsfeed. When he looked back over again, Lan had fallen back asleep.


	2. The Staff Meeting

Lan was having trouble getting ready for bed. It was the night after Chaud's 17th birthday. He was back at home on his own bed, glaring up at the ceiling, with his arms folded over his chest. Something kept nagging at his brain, upsetting him. Well. Upsetting was probably too big a word. It probably wasn't a big deal.

"Hey MegaMan?" he called to where his PET was in its charging station.

"What's up?" 

"Was I weird about it when you told me about you?"

"Told you what about me?"

"You know..." _Come on Lan._ "That you like guys?"

There was a pause and then MegaMan popped into the room. Lan had spent last summer tinkering with a hologram generator until MegaMan was able to spawn anywhere in his bedroom at will. He was planning to install it in the rest of the house when he got a minute. Which they rarely did these days. 

"What's with that question?" MegaMan asked, sitting on the desk. His bright green eyes regarded Lan openly. No judgement. Just curiosity. 

"I feel kind of bad about how I acted with Chaud yesterday."

"I thought you already apologized for that."

"I did!" Lan winced a little at the way his voice cracked. He was mostly over them these days but every now and again... 

"Didn't he say you were all good?"

"Yeah!" He looked up at the ceiling, trying to sort out his thoughts. "So why do I still feel weird about it?"

"Huh." Out of the corner of his eye, he could see MegaMan tilt his head. "I dunno. Did you feel weird when _I_ told you?"

Lan hummed, casting his mind back. "I don't think so..."

"Were you disappointed that I was with ProtoMan?"

"What?" Lan sat bolt upright. "Why would I be disappointed?"

"It happens," MegaMan said gently. "Some people think they're okay with bi people but they're only okay as long as they date the opposite gender."

"I'm not like that! MegaMan, I would never care who you date, come on." Lan twisted in his bed to face him more fully, to press him with sincerity. 

"Lan I know, it's okay." MegaMan scratched at his temple thoughtfully. He wore his helmet off around the house these days and some of his blue-black hair fell into his eyes. He pushed it away. "Do you think it's just that it caught you off guard?

"Maybe?" Lan fell back onto his bed. "I mean... I guess I kinda thought, if Chaud never wants to talk about girls, maybe he's like me, you know?"

"Asexual?" MegaMan confirmed. He had a fond smile on his face. "Well, I guess that makes sense. We do tend to think the people we like are like us."

"Yeah." MegaMan was good with people, Lan reflected. He knew about this stuff. 

There was a crack of thunder out the window. "Aw yeah, rain storm!" Lan rolled off his bed. "Wanna go sit out on the balcony?" 

"Don't you need to be getting ready for bed? We have work tomorrow."

"Oh come on." Lan was already opening the sliding door. "After this? I'll definitely wanna shower."

"Fine, fine." But MegaMan was grinning as he followed Lan out to where the cold November raindrops were already starting to fall. 

Lan sat with his back to the railing, his knees tucked up against his chest. MegaMan sat next to him. The rain which had soaked Lan through almost immediately passed right through MegaMan's hologram. 

"I'll tinker with your sensor program next chance I get," Lan told him, over the thundering of the downpour. "So you can feel it too."

"I _can_ feel it." MegaMan tilted his face up towards the sky. "I put on a rain program in my server room." 

Lan tilted his head back too. "Good thinking." Unlike MegaMan, he had to close his eyes against the water drops but he smiled anyway. He had thought it before, but one of the reasons he never got tired of being around MegaMan was that MegaMan was as happy to be alive as he was. Downpours like this were one of the few times it was as loud outside his head as in it.

Within five minutes, the rain and the cold had become unbearable. He tried to hold in his shivers but it didn't work. MegaMan noticed. "Lan your teeth are chattering."

" _Your_ teeth are chattering," he mumbled. But he climbed to his feet and went back inside. 

As Lan scooped up his toiletries basket, he turned and looked back to where MegaMan was standing just inside the doorway, watching the storm, not ready to go back into the PET. Lan reached one long arm out for him and hovered his hand over the faint static-y feel at the edge of the hologram. 

MegaMan turned and grinned. He'd added an inch or two to his real-world manifestation over the years but he'd told Lan he genuinely didn't mind being short. At 6'5", Lan was a full 10 inches taller than him. 

"Forget about the sensor data," MegaMan said, as Lan pretended to ruffle his hair. "You should go back to trying to analyze Rush's program. Then I could actually be here."

"You're absolutely right." With a final wriggle of his fingers, Lan dropped his hand. "When I finally get that working, I'm gonna take the week off and we're just gonna hang." 

"I don't know if the world could handle us taking a whole week off," MegaMan laughed. "But we can dream."

"Damn straight."

Their meeting the next morning was at the expanded Control X center. Lan had been given a half day from school off for it. Everyone was used to him missing a lot of school by now, and he was confident knowing MayLu and Tory would tell him what he missed. He took his motorized longboard to Control X, zipping cheerfully in and out of other pedestrians. Mornings still kinda sucked but he really did love his job.

At the front door, Lan scanned his keycard and popped on in, longboard tucked under one arm.

"Lan!" Someone called to him across the foyer.

"Miyu!" He knew better than to skate indoors so he just ran the rest of the distance to her instead.

SkullMan's net op still worked as a not-so-secret agent, and her agency and the net savers worked together more and more often now. She still kept her antique shop, and still kept wildly irregular hours at it, but she had once told him that when you were a spooky establishment, the neighborhood kind of let you get away with it. 

"Good morning," she said, smiling serenely up at him. 

"It sure is morning." He yawned as he said it, as if his body had just remembered that it would much rather be sleeping.

"I wondered if you would be coming to this meeting today," Miyu said, politely ignoring his tiredness.

"Yeah! Did they ask you to help out too?"

"Yes. They thought having many different seasoned agents would be beneficial." 

"Is Sal joining us?" Lan asked.

"She's at home today. She was out late on assignment last night. She needs rest." Miyu's voice softened a little as she spoke and Lan watched one hand go instinctively to touch her wedding ring. 

"Anything you can tell me about it?" he asked, hopeful for details.

"Not much. But she's been on a stakeout." 

Lan winced with sympathy. Stakeouts were his least favorite type of assignment. "Well I hope she gets what she's been looking for," he offered.

"Thanks. We need her in full capacity tonight. We're going to an event at our motorcycle club." Lifting her wrist, she looked at the time. "Shall we head in?" 

"No way. I mean yeah, let's go. But also no way!" They climbed the stairs towards the conference room, Lan taking them two at a time. "You guys are in a motorcycle club?"

"Yes, we just started a few months ago," Miyu explained. "It has an after-school program that we help with." 

"Aww man, that is so cool," Lan said. "I wish I had a motorcycle." Chaud had gotten his motorcycle license on the dot of sixteen but there was no way either of Lan's parents would let him get one. He reflected with only mild bitterness about how unfair this was as he opened the door for Miyu, so they could step into the conference room.

Chaud was already there, along with Manuela standing at the front, and two other agents that Lan didn't know super well, though he knew they worked mainly at Control X.

"Lan, Miyu, good morning," Manuela said as they came in. "We just realized we're short one chair, I have someone out getting an extra one."

"You can take the seat if you'd like, Lan," Miyu told him. "I'll wait."

Lan, who had already been making annoying faces at Chaud, turned back to her and grinned. "No it's okay, you sit. I've already got a seat." And he sat himself on Chaud's lap.

The texture of the room might have changed, but he barely noticed. Chaud sighed so hard Lan could feel it rippling the back of his shirt. "Why are you like this?" he complained.

"Come on Chuad, we're buds." 

"I remember being a teenager," one of the Control X agents commented. It sounded like he was laughing at them.

Chaud gave a groan that probably only Lan could hear and dropped his forehead between Lan's shoulder blades. It was the briefest touch and then he pulled himself up again. "I can't see the board now," he warned.

The lucky bastard was saved at that moment by Manuela's assistant returning with another chair in tow. "There you go Lan," Manuela told him, raising a stern eyebrow to suggest that she would not tolerate any lap-sitting in meetings. Flashing her his brightest smile, Lan deposited himself into the new chair.

"Alright," she said once he was settled. "Let's begin.

"So as I'm sure all of you saw in the memo, this is an exploratorium on the net navi MegaMan's suggestion—"

"Agent MegaMan," Lan put in. Manuela inclined her head in acknowledgement.

"Agent MegaMan's suggestion about hiring an external navi to protect the Control X mainframe rather than building a program ourselves to do the job."

"It makes sense," MegaMan said from where he had appeared on the presentation screen. "Our enemies aren't going to be navis built just for one job, so our defenses shouldn't be either." 

"But if we hire someone, we're going to need to keep them here 24/7," one of the Control X staffers pointed out.

"Which is why we should be open to the idea of hiring multiple people," Manuela said.

"Won't their net ops object to that?"

"If they don't like it, they don't have to apply," Chaud said. 

"Chaud," ProtoMan said, but his tone was more like a reminder than a warning.

Chaud nodded slightly. "Right. We should also be open to the possibility of hiring a solo net navi." 

Lan perked up. "A solo net navi?" Like everyone else, he'd been curious about the reports of the underground solo navi culture that apparently existed in the deep web. They'd been eager to have an excuse to run recon.

"How would we let solo navis know that we're interested?" Manuela asked. "I'm not disagreeing, I'm just trying to see the possibilities."

It was a sign of maturity that Lan did not say the first thing that came to his head. Instead he opted to reach for one of the muffins at the middle of the table. "I've been thinking about that," MegaMan was saying. "Maybe there's a way for us to get there ourselves and spread the word."

"How?" the other Control X agent asked. "How do we get there when the only way to find it is to already know how to find it?"

"We have a contact who has one of the best intelligence networks in the world," Chaud said. 

"Oh yeah! Raoul can find anything," Lan agreed around a mouthful of muffin. "You know him, Manuela, he's worked with us before."

"I remember." 

"I sense..." Miyu began thoughtfully. "I have a sense that reaching out to the deep web navis will go well for us. The only time we heard from them was from one violent, outspoken group. It may be time for us to make a gesture of good faith to the others."

Lan, used to Miyu's predictions and her weird psychic powers, was very into this idea. He turned towards her, ignoring the skeptical looks from the rest of the room. "You really think so?" 

"I do." 

Lan turned back to Manuela. "Manuela, send me and MegaMan."

"While I appreciate your enthusiasm—" she began.

"I'm serious! We have a ton of experience dealing with the underworld. We can be ready for anything." He clenched his fist, a small outlet of his enthusiasm. 

"It would probably be safe if we went together," Chaud said, considering.

"Oh yeah! You guys should definitely come." Lan nudged Chaud with his foot. Chaud nudged him back and pretended to frown.

Manuela was making a few notes on her tablet. They appeared on the presentation screen behind MegaMan. 

_-Agents Lan and Chaud to contact Raoul_

_-Possibility of a scouting mission to the deep web_

_-?_

Lan bit down on his grin at that third point. _Step three_ , he thought, crumpling up his muffin wrapper. _Spread MegaMan's picture all over the deep web. Step four? Profit._

"Does anyone have any suggestions of official channels we could use?" Manuela asked. "We should be looking at as many options as possible."

"We're going to be circulating this posting internally as well right?" One of the staffers (Lan wished he could remember their names) asked. 

"Of course." Manuela added " _circulate position to all internal personnel_ " to the notes. "Lan and Chaud, it might be a good idea for the two of you to meet and create an official proposal for Chief Keefer about the idea of initiating deep web contact." 

"Right," Lan said. Chaud nodded. 

"Agent Miyu, would you be willing to circulate this to the secret net agents as well?"

"Absolutely." 

"Excellent. Then let's move onto what I believe to be the next part of this idea..."

By the time the meeting wrapped up, Lan's leg was bouncing from the effort of keeping still. He had been recording the whole thing on an old cassette tape (he had been forbidden from using digital recording methods) and he would listen to it later, to make sure it was all really in his head. 

"You know what I was thinking we should do?" he asked, as the other agents were in the process of exiting. He kept his voice pitched lower. Somewhat. 

Chaud raised an eyebrow. "What's that?"

"We get a bunch of posters with MegaMan's face on them, and we just program a cloudy virus to dump them all over the deep web. 'Have you seen this navi? Now you have!' They'll be beating down our door before you know it."

"Lan what are you _talking_ about?" MegaMan's embarrassed laugh suggested he already knew exactly what Lan was talking about.

"You do have a knack for attracting trouble," ProtoMan said. "It kind of comes looking for you."

"Oh, _you're_ one to talk."

"Agent Lan, Agent Chaud?" The assistant from before poked his head in the door. "Mr. Famous wants to talk to you."

"About what?" Chaud asked. 

"He's giving a lecture for some new recruits right now and he hopes you'll come give a little demonstration."

"Sure!" Lan said, already getting to his feet.

"Lan," Megaman called. "Remember you're supposed to be back at school for afternoon classes."

"Oh yeah," Lan glanced down at his PET. "What time is it?" 

"It's 10:30."

"Oh." That wasn't a lot of time. Even if he left now, it would probably be almost 11:30 by the time he got to school.

"He said he needs you for less than 15 minutes?" the assistant offered.

"Oh, that's okay then!" It would still be tight, but he could eat lunch on the way. 

"Works for me," Chaud said from the comfort of his private tutor education. 

"You two go ahead," Chaud said, surprising him as they exited the conference room. "I need to talk to Miyu before she leaves."

"Oh...okay." Lan gave a nod. "See you there." His gaze followed Chaud as he walked away. _Wonder what's up?_ Then he gave himself a shake and scooped up his skateboard and headed off after the assistant. 

This Control X center had a lecture hall at the far end where orientations and seminars happened. Famous was speaking to a class of about 20 or so recruits when Lan was ushered in the back of the room. "So what are things that strengthen the bond between a human and a navi, then?" he was asking. "Well in many ways it's the same as any other team building exercise." He spotted Lan at that moment but just gave him a nod. Lan stayed against the back wall and waited.

A minute or later Chaud entered the room. This seemed to be what Famous was waiting for because he finally raised a hand and motioned for them to come down. "And of course," he said, continuing his train of thought, "it is always invaluable to walk a mile in someone else's shoes." As Lan and Chaud continued up onto the stage, he said "Those of you who've been reading your textbook will recognize these two. This is Lan Hikari and Chaud Blaze, the first two humans ever to crossfuse." Lan gave a cheerful wave. Chaud remained still. "I've asked them to join me to give a little demonstration of the amount of trust it takes to work effectively as a team. Part of that effectiveness is developing an appreciation for what your navi goes through while they're waiting for you to send battle chips." He surveyed the class with a knowing smile. "Those of you who've really read your textbooks will maybe know where I'm going with this." Picking up a small remote from the podium, he hit a switch and the curtain at the back of the stage began to rise. Taking a blindfold out of his pocket, he handed it to Lan. "Would you put this on please, Agent Lan?"

Lan felt his eyebrows go up but he also had an idea where this was going so he just grinned at Famous and then at Chaud and did as he was told. "Be good to me, okay Chaud?"

Chaud groaned but didn't otherwise dignify his stupid joke with a response. Lan could hear Famous speaking into the mic again. "Initialize obstacle course." There was a gentle whirring from a projection system and Lan knew that a hologram had appeared on stage. 

"Hold out your hand," Famous told him and Lan felt him place a headset in his open palm. He put it on over his baseball cap and heard a shuffling to his right that he could only assume was Chaud putting on a headset of his own. "Ready gentlemen?"

"Ready Famo."

"Ready."

"Don't _call_ me Famo—Look let's just start. I'm starting the timer in 3...2...1, go!"

"Walk five paces forward," Chaud told him. Lan did. He'd gotten used to listening to Chaud when his voice took on that tone because sometimes his life literally depended on it. "Now stop." Lan obeyed. He could hear something humming incredibly close to his face. He imagined a laser tripwire of some kind. "When I say go, run straight left."

"Got it—"

"Go!"

Lan took off with all the kinetic force of a defensive tackle. There was a cavernous yawning from the floor somewhere in front of him, not unlike the sound of the ocean. "Jump!" Chaud snapped in his ear. Lan did. 

Now, he could have just hit a long jump, but he had an audience, and a good idea of this stage, and he wanted to show off. He flung his arms forward and executed a full tuck and roll, landing with his arms tucked in front of him defensively.

There was applause from the audience. 

"On your feet Lan," Chaud said. "We're on the clock." Lan huffed but pushed himself to his feet and turned around. Chaud was always so hard to impress. "Okay, three steps to your left and turn right." Once Lan was there, he said, "You're gonna hop on one foot, right foot first, a distance of two feet with each jump. Ten jumps. Go."

Lan could see the color of the darkness changing behind his blindfold as he went, counting steps with each jump. _...8! 9! 10!_ He swung his arms a bit to steady his dismount on the last jump. 

"Good job. Last thing; there's a bar three in front of you, 8 ft in the air. Jump for it." Lan took a half second to visualize and then swung his arms again and jumped.

The bar hit his fingers hard on the way down and he hissed but the adrenaline and the anticipation saved him and he held his grip. There was a slow cranking sound and he felt the bar lowering him back down to the floor again. Behind his blindfold he could tell that the lights were coming back on. Still brimming with energy, he did one pullup, and finally dismounted.

The audience broke into applause. Lan pulled off the blindfold and took a bow. "Time?" Chaud asked.

Famous looked at the screen of his PET. "One minute, nine seconds. Well done." He turned back to the class. "Everyone give it up one more time for our net savers." The applause swelled again and Famous smiled at them. "Thanks for all your help. You're free to go." Then he looked at the recruits again. "Right, now that I've given you completely unrealistic expectations, everyone pair up."

"That was totally awesome!" Lan said as they exited the lecture hall. "Glad to know we're still the best team in the business." They had come so far that he couldn't believe sometimes that there had ever been a time in battle where if Chaud said jump he _wouldn't_. 

"Me too," Chaud said. He smiled as Lan bumped their shoulders together. Eyeing Lan's longboard, he said, “Do you need a ride back to school?"

"Nah. I'm gonna swing by my house anyway. Grab my lunch. What time is it?" Lan grabbed Chaud's wrist and checked his watch. Chaud heaved a long-suffering sigh. "Yep! Should just have enough time."

"I _can_ drive you," Chaud said. "It's not a big deal."

Lan considered this. Chaud's offer seemed sincere and he definitely always welcomed more hang time but, some instinct of responsibility was telling him no. Then he remembered. "I would, but I have to listen back to my tape of the meeting anyway. Make sure I got everything," he explained regretfully. "If I don't do it now I'm not gonna want to do it later."

Chaud frowned slightly but then nodded. "Okay. See you later then."

"Count on it." 

They parted ways then, with Chaud heading for the underground parkade and Lan heading for the front door. He was digging in his backpack for his cassette deck and headphones when MegaMan spoke. 

"Oh hey, you just got a text from MayLu. She said she's picked a date for the going away party."

"That's awesome!" MayLu was flying to Bright Land in a week and a half to compete in an international chess tournament. If she won, she would be officially ranked as a grandmaster. Everyone was really stoked for her.

"Yeah, and she said if you're still with Chaud, you should invite him too. Only tell him no pressure if he can't make it." MegaMan eyes tracked the words off the window that had popped up beside him.

"Well I guess there's no point in catching up with him now." Lan glanced back towards the garage thoughtfully. "Let's just call him."

"You got it."

"Did you change your mind?" Chaud asked by way of greeting, when he picked up a second later. 

"Nope! But MayLu wanted me to invite you to her going away party."

"Oh, that's nice of her. When is it?"

"Uhh..." Lan felt a sheepish grin come over his face. "MegaMan?"

"It's this Saturday at 5:00 o' clock," MegaMan supplied. "But she wanted us to tell you, no pressure if you can't make it."

"But _I_ say pressure!" Lan told him with a grin. He paused to nod goodbye to the doorman as he scanned his keycard and left the building. “You have to come!”

"Oh." Chaud's face took on a more neutral expression. "I'm sorry but I won't be able to go. I promised Miyu I'd visit her and Sal at the Queer Youth Motorcycle Society that day. There's going to be an event."

"What?" This whole sentence was a lot to process. _What do you need queer youth for, you have us_ seemed like a wildly childish thing to say. 

"Sorry Lan, I already put my name on the guest list." 

"Oh. Well." Lan tried not to feel too deflated. "That's okay then."

"I'll message MayLu to tell her." Chaud eyed him through the screen. "We'll talk later?"

"For sure. Later." As he ended the call, Lan spared a minute to question the disappointment that was slowly flooding him. It seemed a little out of place. 

"Lan you gotta leave now or you'll be late for school," MegaMan said.

"Right! Right. Going!" He tucked his PET away, put in his headphones, and jumped onto his motorized longboard. The day continued.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for everyone who left kudos last time! I was surprised to get any engagement at all. ^^:  
> More notes from my NT Warrior rewatch:  
> 1\. The show mentions in one episode of season 2 that MayLu was the DenTech City chess champion, the show just? Never does anything with it ever again? So she's gonna get her due in this fic.  
> 2\. The amount of characters who meet MegaMan for two seconds and make it their life's mission to destroy him make me feel confident in saying that MegaMan is the hottest piece of ass in the cyber world.


	3. Enter the Motorcycle Club

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: Some depictions of PTSD in this chapter. It seems reasonable to assume that there are only so many times you can die or get forcibly turned evil before it messes with you.  
> -  
> If you don't know what the reference to the Net Mobile Grand Prix is, please go watch NT Warrior episode 44 on Gogoanime or something similar, and watch ProtoMan straight up about to give the win to MegaMan at the end, for literally no reason laid out in the episode. I like to imagine ProtoMan looking at himself in the mirror in the morning and going "here's the plan: you win the trophy. You write your number on it. You give it to MegaMan. You tell him 'you're the real winner today, stud.'"

"Don't overthink it," ProtoMan told him.

"I'm not overthinking it." Chaud held the tablet at arms' length in front of him, resisting the urge to bang his forehead on the desk.

"Then what are you doing?"

"Considering my options." He scrolled through the listings, feeling a frown forming between his eyebrows. "I was planning on restoring a motorcycle at some point anyway. Might as well start now."

"Sure, but you don't want to show up with a frame for some classic model."

"Compromise with me. You've already told me I can't have lacquered fiberglass."

"I didn't say you _can't_ ," ProtoMan said, a smile in his voice. "I'm just saying, do you want to stick out or don't you?"

Chaud sighed heavily through his nose. They'd been singing this duet and off for the past hour. 

"Okay, how about this," ProtoMan said after a minute. "Why don't you get a basic model and work on customizing it."

Chaud considered that. "You know... that's actually not a bad idea."

"All my ideas are good ones."

"Oh really." Chaud raised an eyebrow, looking down at his PET.

"Tell me you're not about to bring up the Net Mobile Grand Prix."

"ProtoMan, do you recall the Net Mobile Grand Prix?"

"Back off Chaud," ProtoMan said with a crooked grin. "I got the babe in the end, didn't I?"

"That you did." Chaud tapped a thumb on the side of the tablet. 

"And you were just as bad at flirting as I was back then."

Chaud sighed again. "Unfortunately, I don't think I'm any better at flirting now." He looked out the window remembering.

"At least you're not 14 anymore."

"Thank God for that." Chaud felt his body warm at the memory of being a young teen, newly gay, and constantly wrestling with the urge to buy Lan anything and everything he mentioned in passing. ProtoMan had done a lot of impulse control then. 

Clearing his throat, he returned to the listings on the tablet screen. "I'll send you a few of the basic models. I want your opinion."

"Sure thing, but it might have to wait. We've got that call in a few minutes."

"Already?" Chaud checked his watch, ignoring the memory that rose, as he knew it would, of Lan grabbing his wrist to check the time. The casual way in which Lan absolutely knew he was welcome in Chaud's personal space... Well. Chaud didn't regret it, but it was still distracting. 

He managed to find two models to send to ProtoMan by the time MegaMan called. He at least, was sitting primly in the foreground of the video, ready for a meeting. Lan was in the background, sprawled out on his bed on his stomach, reading. 

"He's got homework," MegaMan explained. "But he'll listen in, right Lan?"

"Right," Lan said absently, frowning at something in his textbook. With a smile, MegaMan turned back to ProtoMan and Chaud.

"I've got all the basics filled out already," he said. "I'll send it for you to sign once we're done." 

Out of the four of them, MegaMan was actually the best with paperwork. It probably helped that he was the only one who didn't actively hate it. Chaud and ProtoMan were less vocal in their disdain than Lan but they disdained it nonetheless. MegaMan however, actually seemed fine with it. 

"Manuela's gonna be the one to sign off," he added. This was another thing. Senior agents were always needed to back any mission proposal. Technically they were all senior agents at this point, but life would be very different if they were allowed to greenlight their own proposals.

Chaud sometimes contemplated the fact that he and Lan could legally sign off on life-threatening missions, but neither of them could buy beer. 

In the background, he watched Lan roll over onto his back, tugging his shirt back down to cover his stomach. He was still frowning at his textbook. 

"What's our estimated amount of time for this mission?" MegaMan asked, pulling Chaud's attention away from Lan.

"Hard to say," ProtoMan mused. "Should we start with one full work shift?"

MegaMan hummed. "That's kind of what I was thinking. What about a projected start date?"

"That would depend on when we hear back from Raoul," Chaud put in. 

"Which we shouldn't do until this thing is approved." MegaMan made entries to the form as he spoke. 

"Oh I talked to him already," Lan called from the bed. Chaud watched MegaMan turn.

"What?" 

"Yeah, didn't I tell you?"

"You know we're supposed to wait till we get approval," MegaMan said. 

"Better to ask forgiveness than permission," Lan said with an unrepentant grin.

"You're not 12 anymore Lan," MegaMan chastised. "You're not as cute as you used to be, they're not gonna just let you get away with that."

"I'm still plenty cute! Besides. You have the best puppy eyes anyway. We'll hit the chief with those." 

"Sorry, I only use my powers for good," MegaMan said. "And I think Chief Keefer is immune to the puppy eyes."

"Hey, works on me," ProtoMan said. 

"Guess I must be doing something right."

 _Gross,_ Chaud thought fondly. Aloud he only said, "Maybe we've gotten off track." 

MegaMan might have been blushing. “Right. Sorry.”

At some point, as they continued workshopping their proposal, Chaud got a notification in the corner of his PET screen. He opened it.

_Welcome to the Queer Youth Motorcycle server!_

There was a good handful of messages, attached to usernames he didn't recognize, all welcoming him to the little club. He took a quiet breath. It would be good for him to meet other queer kids. Lan was actually the only other one he knew at the moment, and that wasn't really doing him any favors. Especially not in the department of... well.

He sent a message back.

From: Chaud Blaze

_Happy to be here._

"We're almost done," MegaMan said. "I'm just gonna get you three to read over what we've got and then sign it."

There was a stretch of silence while each of them read it over. Even Lan came over from his bed to read over the top of MegaMan's head. Chaud wanted to reach out, to get his attention somehow, but didn’t quite know what to say. 

_You're supposed to be trying to meet new people_ , he reminded himself. 

"You still planning to tell him next year?" ProtoMan asked when the other two had hung up. 

"Yes," Chaud said simply. "If this feeling keeps up."

"And if you meet someone?"

As strange as it was to entertain the possibility, Chaud made himself. "Then I suppose it would be irrelevant anyway."

"Guess so." There was a pause and then ProtoMan said, "I think I found a bike you'll be interested in."

It wasn't till later that night that he remembered to check the club server again. He was lying on his bed, trying to unwind. ProtoMan was having MegaMan over for a night-in, which meant Chaud was alone. The rain was coming down hard outside. He checked back in the club chat and saw, to his surprise, that people had been talking to him.

 _"What kind of bike do you have?"_ someone named Ghiro asked.

 _"Wait, are you Chaud Blaze like BlazeQuest games???"_ demanded someone named Jiro. 

_Twins? Siblings?_ Chaud thought in confusion. _Well, at least we're getting the BlazeQuest thing out of the way._ He set about replying. 

From: Chaud  
 _Yes, my father owns BlazeQuest.  
_ _As for my bike...  
_ _> image attached_

From: Ghiro  
 _oh looks nice :)_

From: Chaud  
 _Thank you.  
_ _Do you have pictures of yours?_

From: Ghiro  
 _> image attached_

They started discussing specs. Other members chimed in, sending pictures of their own bikes, or if they didn't have one, their parent's. And Chaud… Chaud felt good. He felt engaged.

There was a sudden crack of thunder and then, with a fizzle, the lights went out. Chaud went still on instinct, listening. Then the generator kicked in and everything came back on. 

Some old anxiety rose in him, and he called, "ProtoMan?" at the same moment that ProtoMan said, "Chaud!"

Chaud sat forward. "Are you two okay in there?"

"The system glitched out." Only Chaud, who'd known him forever, could tell ProtoMan sounded shaken. "MegaMan got sent back to his own PET."

Chaud swung his legs over the side of his bed. The vague anxiety began to dissipate. "Is everything okay?"

"I'm waiting for his response." There was a subtle but clear strain of stress in ProtoMan's voice. "Just to check. You know." 

"Of course," Chaud tried to assure him. "That's a good idea." He kept his PET in his hand and they waited for a notification to light up the screen together.

MegaMan didn't keep them waiting long. "He's not hurt," ProtoMan confirmed and they both exhaled. "Seems like he got shaken pretty bad though. He says he just needs to spend the night at home."

"Well, I'm glad he's okay," Chaud said, offering a kind of smile. It was the stuff in all of their nightmares sometimes, the fear that they would wake up and one of them would just be gone. Chaud still saw the Grave virus beast in his dreams. Or Dark ProtoMan. Or sometimes something new all together. They didn’t show up every night, but they did show up enough.

"Chaud," ProtoMan said after a minute. "Talk to me. Say anything. I just... Let me hear your voice."

"Whatever you need." Chaud was almost eager as he reopened the motorcycle club server, anxious to find anything to talk about that would keep his best friend distracted. He went through each of the models the others had sent, and forwarded ProtoMan all the pictures. The sucking pit of anxiety began to wash away under the familiarity of safer topics. 

Eventually, ProtoMan began to talk too, about what he thought about motorcycle culture these days, about his desire to get behind the wheel of a self-driving car, about how maybe they should compete in another race. The focus began to drift in earnest towards good things. Things that made life enjoyable. Chaud watched ProtoMan’s defenses relax and heard the quiet pride seep back into his voice, as he discussed all the things he knew he was good at. As he remembered that he was strong.

"I'm gonna try to go into sleep mode," ProtoMan said eventually. "Thanks Chaud." 

"Don’t mention it.”

"I don't say it enough, but you know I love you right?"

Chaud exhaled heavily. "I love you too."

He fell asleep with his PET still clenched in one hand.

\- -

"Lan! Lan!" 

Lan jolted upright as another clap of thunder broke out. It had been an unusually rainy November. "MegaMan?" he called, rubbing his eyes. 

"Lan." MegaMan was kneeling over him on the bed, looking as freaked out as Lan had ever seen him. 

"MegaMan!" Lan reached out and then aborted the movement, his sleep addled brain reminding him that he couldn't really touch him. MegaMan reached out anyway, so that their palms looked pressed together. "What happened? I thought you were with ProtoMan."

"I was. But the power went out and—" MegaMan leaned forward, burying his face in Lan's shoulder. It was hard to tell with the ever present buzz of the hologram but Lan thought he might be shaking. 

"I'm just gonna get the PET, okay?" he said as gently as his sleep-rough voice could manage. "I'm not going anywhere." He had never been more grateful for his long wingspan as he kept one hand floating around MegaMan's and reached towards his desk with the other, plucking his PET off it's charging port. "Whoa, your defense systems are going crazy." Every defensive program was engaged and fully running. There were virus scans in progress too, as MegaMan’s system did anything it could to find what had threatened him. 

"What do you need me to do?" Lan asked. MegaMan was still hunched over. "Do you want to sleep in the panic room?" Chaud had a literal panic room at his house, but for MegaMan or ProtoMan, a panic room was a specially built PET. It didn't have a wireless receiver so it couldn't be hacked. The only way in or out was through a cable port that Lan had custom-built. 

MegaMan opened his mouth, then closed it. Then shook his head and tried again. "No. I'll be okay. But Lan...Can you...Can we go into the closet for a while?"

"Of course." Lan scrambled to pull his blanket and pillows off his bed, PET still gripped in one hand. "Of course we can."

Lan didn't have a panic room, he had a closet. He'd asked his parents about the possibility once, and they'd kinda thought he was joking. So he opened the closet door and spread the out blanket. Once he was settled again, MegaMan respawned, so that he was lying on top of Lan rather than ghosting through him. Lan didn't often think about how small MegaMan was, but in that moment, he seemed really really little. He moved his hand over MegaMan's head.

"You don't have to sleep in here," MegaMan mumbled, as he buried his face in his arms. Lan knew he was thinking of the way Lan had to pretzel himself to fit, his knees folded and his feet pressed up against one wall. "Just. Just until my defense systems deactivate again."

"Don't worry about it!" Lan insisted with more force than strictly necessary. "We can stay as long as it takes." 

There was a silence that stretched for Lan didn't know how long. Then MegaMan asked, "Can... can you put the PET on your chest? I wanna hear—"

"Already on it." Lan wriggled a bit so he was lying more truly flat on his back, so that as he settled the PET over his heart, it would stay put. As quiet fell over them again, Lan began to feel something like peace.

_I wonder how Chaud and Protoman are doing._

\- -

From: Chaud  
 _I heard from someone in the group chat that there's a self-driving car at the motorcycle club garage._

From: Miyu  
 _That's right.  
_ _I was wondering if we'd be hearing from you today.  
_ _Would you like to take it out?_

From: Chaud  
 _I would.  
_ _Thank you._

From: Miyu  
 _Does 4pm work for you?  
_ _We could perhaps arrange 3pm if you really want to seize the day._

From: Chaud  
 _4pm is great. See you then._

It was a rare slow day for him. The only thing he had was one general meeting with the BlazeQuest department heads in the morning, then it was schoolwork for the rest of the day. ProtoMan disappeared early to catch MegaMan before Lan's classes started. Chaud was glad of that. It would be good for them to see each other. 

Lan's voice rang in his head. _"MayLu says no pressure if you can't make her party, but_ I _say pressure!"_ Chaud closed his eyes briefly. How did people get over a crush on someone who genuinely always wanted to be in their company?

"What's going on?" ProtoMan asked once he returned. "You just added something to the calendar."

"I thought we'd swing by the motorcycle club in the afternoon."

"You don't have that event till Saturday. Something come up?"

"I thought it might be nice to go ahead of time. Scope it out." Chaud smiled to himself. It was the smile born of human excitement that came with doing something nice for someone else. "You know."

The Queer Youth Motorcycle Club garage was a busy by the time Chaud pulled up on the dot of 4:00. The bike that he had ordered hadn't arrived yet but he figured, since they already knew he was the son of the president of BlazeQuest, they might not be put off by what he was driving. It had a lot more than just lacquered fiberglass. 

Miyu's bike was already parked outside when he got there and he parked beside it. He was taking off his helmet when he heard her calling to him. 

"Chaud. Don't leave your bike there. Park it in the shed." She waited patiently for him to put the kickstand back up and walk it over to follow her.

"Is it not safe around here?"

"It's perfectly safe. But some of the kids like to detail newcomers' bikes. And that wouldn't be a good welcome for you."

He felt his eyebrows jump. "Good to know." 

The shed Miyu locked his bike had a second entrance, leading into the main club. "Some of the others are in the shop," she said as she led him inside. "They're putting on the finishing touches for the stock race on Saturday." He nodded in understanding. She turned to where two young people were coming out of what appeared to be an office area. "Ghiro, Jiro, come say hello."

Chaud's first thought upon seeing the two people who had been most friendly to him in the group chat was, _Oh. They're not twins._

"I'm Ghiro," the taller one said. "They/them." Ghiro was slightly taller than him, deeply tan and so practiced at androgyny that Chaud genuinely could not have said which gender was on their birth certificate. Their very curly brown hair fell to their shoulders and obscured most of their face. 

"Chaud. ...He/him."

"I'm Jiro! Actually my name is Jiroshi, but everyone calls me Jiro. And I'm a girl." She grinned up at him, her straight black hair tucked behind her ears. It was occurring to Chaud that Jiro had possibly the largest muscles he had ever seen on a teenage girl. 

"I'm taking him to see the car," Miyu interrupted. "Is Lee there?" 

"Yeah, he's just bringing it back in," Jiro said. "Have fun!"

"Nice to meet you," Ghiro told him softly. 

"It's the only car we have for official club use," Miyu explained as she led him further back through the garage. "You'll need to do a lap with Lee before you get started. Once he’s satisfied you can drive, you’ll be able to go on your own." 

"That makes sense." 

They had no sooner reached the back garage door than it began to open, and a long, mean-looking black car reversed in. There was a quiet whirring as the engine shut off and then the driver was climbing out. 

Chaud's first thought was, _well, that sure is a possibility._

It probably said something that it wasn't the bright grey eyes or the blond hair that Chaud liked, but the easy smile on this other boy's face. "Hey Miyu!" presumably Lee said. "You brought a new friend."

"I did. Chaud, this is Lee."

"Nice to meet you," Lee said, holding out his hand.

Chaud took it. Lee's hand swallowed his up. He tried not to compare it to Lan. "You too." 

"I need you to take Chaud out for a ride before he can drive the car on his own," Miyu said. "Is that okay?"

Lee's eyes sparkled. "Sure thing, boss." He held out his other hand to Chaud and when Chaud reached out his palm, dropped something into it. "Here's the fob, it's a start-button ignition, obviously, though I keep saying we should get something more classic..." He eyed Miyu meaningfully.

She ignored this entirely. "Drive safe, you two."

"We'll think about it." Lee circled over to the passenger's side and got in. Chaud slid in behind the wheel.

"I actually wanted my navi to be the one to drive," Chaud said. "Is that allowed?"

"Oh. Huh." Lee tugged at his chin thoughtfully. "I don't see why not. I mean it's not like you need to wait for navis to grow up..." With a nod, he seemed to make up his mind. "Go ahead. Get 'em in there." 

Chaud fished his PET off his belt clip and pointed it at the dashboard. "Jack in, Protoman. Power up."

That familiar face appeared on the built-in windshield display. "Alright." It came out in a satisfied almost-growl. There was a revving sound as ProtoMan activated the ignition switch. "Ready when you are."

"I love your hair," Lee said, startling Chaud.

"Hey thanks." ProtoMan showed his teeth. "Back at you." Lee laughed and tossed his long blond hair over his shoulder.

"Seat belt on," he said to Chaud as he reached for his own. "Manual e-break is here." He indicated a smaller lever on the center console. "Your navi will have access to the electronic one in the controls."

"My name’s ProtoMan," ProtoMan told him. 

Lee smiled at him again and Chaud didn't bother denying to himself that this other boy was attractive. "I’m Lee."

He watched the indicator on the dash move as ProtoMan put them in drive, and they were off. 

As ProtoMan took them around the track, Lee asked appropriate questions: had ProtoMan ever driven a human car before (yes), had ProtoMan ever tried trick driving (also yes), how would ProtoMan feel about trying to drift around one of the corners (done and done). Chaud stayed largely silent through the exchange, and simply basked in this rare occurrence of another human speaking directly to his net navi. It made ProtoMan's existence feel more concrete somehow, more valued. Chaud needed that, especially after the events of last night. 

After two laps, Lee directed ProtoMan to drop him off back at the garage. "Well, I give you my seal of approval, buddy," he said before climbing out. "Just don't do anything I wouldn't do." 

"Didn't you say you once took the corner of this track on two wheels?" ProtoMan asked drily.

Lee smirked. "Well. I didn't say that was a restrictive rule." He looked to Chaud and his smile took on a less self-deprecating texture. "See you back inside?"

"Okay," Chaud said simply. He tried not to be obvious about studying this other boy as he climbed out of the car. 

The door closed with a thud and there was a beat of silence. "So." ProtoMan said, sounding incredibly smug. " _You've_ been quiet."

"Shut up and drive," Chaud snapped, resisting the urge to sink lower in the driver's seat. He straightened up more, in fact, to show his urges who’s boss.

"What're you thinking about?" ProtoMan pulled away from the garage again. "You think he's cute don't you."

"He is," Chaud said. He frowned at ProtoMan up on the windshield. "I _do_ know why I joined this club, you know."

"And I respect you for it," ProtoMan said. He eased them around the first corner and then poured on the gas. "You’re taking matters into your own hands."

Chaud stared out at the track and tried to think about how to explain how weird it felt. He didn't seek out friendships. With one notable exception, he had never vied for anyone's attention in his life. It felt almost... sneaky to join a club for the express purpose of trying to get over Lan Hikari. 

"You know people literally join clubs to meet each other, right?" ProtoMan asked, appearing to read his thoughts. "It's why clubs exist."

"I'm aware of that fact," Chaud insisted. "It's just..." He trailed away, feeling frustrated at how difficult the words seemed. It shouldn't have been a big deal.

"What, you didn't actually expect to meet someone you could like?"

Chaud closed his eyes. ProtoMan knew him too well. "I was planning to ease into it," he said. 

"You are. You made a good first impression." 

Chaud hummed his thanks. ProtoMan swerved hard around the corner. 

"Hey Chaud. You sure it wouldn't be better to just talk to Lan about it before you try to get over him?"

Chaud tried to quell the defensiveness that rose up in him. "Lan's never had a crush on anyone. I'm not arrogant enough to think I would be the exception." ProtoMan kept silent, maybe thinking about this, so Chaud said, "He was _surprised_ when I came out to him, ProtoMan. He doesn't think of me that way."

ProtoMan's silence changed. Chaud heard him exhale in sympathy. "I'm proud of you for getting out here," he said eventually. "And thank you. For doing this for me."

"Of course," Chaud said, glaring far too fiercely through the windshield now. "Don't mention it."

"Alright. Ready to really drive? If you use the handbrake we can tag-team the drifts."

A smile drifted onto Chaud's face. "Let's do it


	4. The Going Away Party

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're gonna see a little more of the squad in this one and get more into Lan's feelings~ this time I promise. Also I did some sketches of the older squad so I'll include them here. :)

It was the afternoon of MayLu's going-away party, and she, Lan and Tory were hanging out in front of her house. Tory was practicing on Lan's motorized longboard. 

"You're doing great!" Lan called.

"You know what your next invention should be?" MayLu said. "You should make one that navis can drive."

"Oh yeah!" Lan's voice cracked in his excitement. "That would be totally awesome!" 

"How would that work?" Tory slowed to a stop in front of them. "Would you put the camera on the front?"

"Maybe you could link it to a helmet-mounted one," MayLu suggested. 

"Those are both good..." Lan looked up to the sky, considering. "But I think I'd actually use the tech from that robot vacuum my mom uses."

"That's a good idea!" Tory bent over and turned the board around. He was still getting the hang of some things.

"Your mom probably won't think it's a good idea," MayLu said with a knowing smile.

"I'm not gonna use hers!" Lan protested. "I'll buy my own!"

"You should ask Chaud if you can get a look at the self-driving car they have down at the motorcycle club," MegaMan suggested. "I bet their motion sensors would be just what you need." 

Lan frowned at the suggestion. Stupid Chaud and his stupid motorcycle club that sounded so cool. "I don't see why he needs to join a club anyway," he said.

"Probably to meet people," Tory suggested reasonably. 

"What does he need _people_ for?" 

"Probably to meet _boys_ ," MayLu said knowingly. Lan glared at her. "What?"

"Lan's a little envious," MegaMan said. "I think he wants a motorcycle."

"Who wouldn't?" Lan protested.

"Well, _I_ want a turn on the longboard when Tory's done," MayLu said. "Guys, I have been reading my strategy books so much, I see them every time I close my eyes."

"Sorry about the article I sent you," Tory said. "I didn't mean to give you more reading."

"No, it's okay." MayLu smiled at him. "It was actually really helpful."

"Oh, good!" Tory planted both feet firmly on the board. "Okay I'm gonna do one more lap." And off he went.

Lan plopped himself down on the curb next to her. "How're you feeling?"

"A little nervous I guess. I wish Tory or my mom or someone could come with me." MayLu's ponytail swung as she watched Tory navigate the roundabout at the end of her street. "Traveling alone is a little scary."

"At least you'll have me, MayLu!" Roll's voice piped up. MayLu's expression warmed.

"I always have you, Roll." 

"Huh." Lan looked up at the sky again, listening to the rolling of the long board's wheels. "So what's the biggest difference fighting in a chess match versus a regular net battle?"

"The timing," MayLu said immediately. "Between moves you can wait as long as you need to strategize, but once you execute, you can't change your mind." 

Lan considered the mental state it took to be constantly on your toes in a firefight. He thought about how much more naturally that came to him than sitting still. "Better you than me. I hate waiting."

"I know. I've met you." MayLu smiled. "I guess that's why I'm going to an international chess tournament and you're not."

"You've earned it," Lan told her sincerely. 

"Thanks." It was her turn to look up at the clouds. "It's weird to think if I win this, I'll be a grandmaster."

" _When_ you win this. Of course you'll win!"

She looked back at him, expression clear and bright. "You're right. I just need to have that confidence." 

"Yeah!" Something over her shoulder caught his attention. "Hey, is that Yai's limo?"

"We only know two people who drive limos," she said, already turning to look. "And Chaud's at the racetrack today." Lan ignored the tug of irritation this gave him.

Sure enough when the limo doors opened it was Yai, along with Dex, Chisao, Shuko and her brothers. "Wow," Lan joked as the last person piled out. "This is the fanciest public bus I've ever seen."

"Can it, Lan," Yai told him firmly. "See if I ever drive you anywhere again."

Lan and MayLu made eye contact and grinned. Some things never changed. 

"It's not like you drive anyway," Lan said as they all headed inside. "You've got a driver."

"I said _can it!_ "

The party was fun. Their navis played football in the games room and it was quickly decided that SpoutMan and IceMan could not be on the same team, because SpoutMan would flood the entire field and IceMan would make a little ice floe and ferry the ball to the end zone. 

"That's cheating!" Dex protested.

"Technically there's no rule against it," Tory said in bemusement as IceMan spiked the ball down onto the ice. The other navis were treading water.

"At least the water's warm?" MegaMan said.

"I suspect those are from his tears," Glide said.

"GutsMan can't swim," GutsMan whined from where he was floating miserably on a life ring Dex had thrown for him. 

MayLu's mom had put together a slideshow of MayLu's previous chess tournament victories, much to MayLu's intense embarrassment. She spent most of the show with her hands covering her face while all her friends clapped and cheered. 

"Look at how little I was then!" Yai said, pointing to one photo where they were all crowded around MayLu as she held the DenTech City trophy. 

"We all were," Dex said in genuine wonder. Lan laughed. Dex had stopped growing at 6'3". When he and Lan went out together, people got out of their way. 

"Oh look!" Yai continued. "It's Chaud!"

"That was the year we went to the premiere of that new battle chess simulator BlazeQuest put out, wasn't it?" Tory said. "I forgot about that."

"Man," Yai said. "I had such a crush on him back then." 

"Did you guys used to hang out a lot?" Shuko asked. 

"Not really," Yai admitted. "I just thought he was hot."

"Weren't you like eight when we first met him?" MayLu asked. 

"You can still have a crush when you're eight MayLu!"

"I'm not denying that," MayLu said. "It's just funny to think of an eight year old thinking someone is 'hot.'"

"Well I stand by it," Yai said, tossing her hair. "He's very handsome. Even if he is the competition."

"You got me there," MayLu agreed with a laugh.

Lan was weirded out. He knew other people thought Chaud was a good-looking guy, but to hear them talk about it so casually was... something. He pushed the thought out of his mind. "Hey come on, let's see the next picture."

After the slideshow came the present. They had all worked on it together. It was a 3D rendering of a chess set and was interactive. Yai and Shuko had done most of the coding. Every time a piece was moved, a pop-up window would appear, with a compliment for MayLu and Roll, or a memory, or simply an encouraging note, 32 in all. Half of them were from the humans and half were for the navis. GutsMan's notes were written in all caps. Roll almost cried when she saw it and MayLu couldn't stop smiling. 

"I love this!" she told them all. "Thank you so much."

"What time are you going to the airport?" Lan asked her as the party was winding down. The sun had long since set, and everyone was getting ready to head out.

"Monday, at one o' clock. I'm not going to be at school that day."

"Neither will I," Lan said. "We've got a mission."

"So I guess we'll say goodbye here," MayLu said.

"You're gonna be amazing out there," Lan said with his brightest grin. "I know you will." 

"Thanks Lan." She smiled back up at him. "I'll text you all before I board." 

And then Lan was on his own with his thoughts again. Normally that was fine, because Lan had a healthy enjoyment of his own company. But something was bothering him and he couldn't quite remember what. 

"Oh Lan," MegaMan said as he scooped up his longboard to get on the subway. "ProtoMan sent me some pictures from today. I thought you might wanna see them!"

Oh. _This_ was what was bothering him. Chaud. Maybe Lan had missed his presence at the party more than he realized. That made sense, didn't it? They spent so much time together, of course Lan was going to notice when he was gone. "Sure. Let's see 'em."

The pictures of the stock bikes were pretty interesting. Lan didn't have the interest in vehicles that MegaMan and Chaud did but MegaMan explained to him about how it was similar to stock car racing, and took Lan through what was cool about each bike. There were pictures of Chaud, holding a small flag that someone had clearly just handed him, looking politely at the camera as he sat in the front row of the stands.

 _Handsome._ That was the word Yai had used. It skittered through Lan's brain before he could stop it. Lan knew that other people found Chaud good-looking. It was something that people were supposed to do, find each other attractive. But it took so long for Lan to notice those things about people and when he finally did it was like a little victory. Looking at Chaud and thinking, "that is what an attractive person looks like," it was like finding five dollars in his pocket. A little bit of treasure to make his day better.

But when other people commented offhand that Chaud was "one of the good-looking ones" it was like being reminded that other people found five dollars every day. They had thirty-five by the end of the week and Lan just had his five-dollar bill.

Irritated with how depressing and abstract his thoughts had become, he went onto the next picture.

There was a picture of a girl with muscley arms, presumably from the club, holding up the 3rd place ribbon as everyone crowded around her. The next picture was that same girl, holding a PET towards the camera screen to show a net navi also wearing their prize ribbon. The picture after that was of a boy with long blond hair, pushing himself up onto the divider between the stands and the racetrack, grinning into Chaud's face. Chaud watched him back calmly.

Lan's eyes went wide. Something sick wormed its way into his stomach. He put the PET down. 

"You okay Lan?" MegaMan asked.

"Yeah.” Lan’s voice sounded too cheerful. “It's nothing."

It wasn't nothing. Lan frowned at the middle distance. He had never been upset seeing guys together before. And they weren't even together! It was probably just some new friend Chaud made. Who was happy to see him. 

Except. Except since when did Chaud let anyone into his space like that? It was _Chaud_. Lan continued to frown. It had taken Lan two years of friendship to be allowed into Chaud's personal space. Who was this new guy? Why did he get to be up in Chaud's space?

 _Oh dammit,_ Lan thought with a sinking feeling. _Am I being homophobic?_

He forcibly shoved the idea out of his head. He wasn't homophobic. He wasn’t. He didn't care that MegaMan and ProtoMan were together.

"Hey Lan," MegaMan said as they were coming up their own street. "What do you think about asking your mom about a sprinkler system again?"

Lan felt suddenly cold in a way that had nothing to do with skating in the night air. This was MegaMan's breakdown a few days ago, coming back up. 

Lan didn't get a panic room, but he had convinced his mom to put him in charge of the electrical maintenance at the house, and when she wasn't looking, had installed a kill-switch in the circuit breaker. Cutting power to the house would deal any viruses in the computers, but not any bad guys that tried to spawn in real life. Sprinklers would help with that. Problem was, the first time he'd tried to bring up sprinklers to his mom, she'd said " _Do you know how much water those things use? We can just use the hose, silly!_ " And Lan had dropped it. But now MegaMan was worrying about it too.

"I can try," Lan said. 

The sprinkler problem effectively banished thoughts of Chaud from his mind while he was getting ready for bed. While brushing his teeth, he allowed his train of thought to cook up more and more hair-brained schemes but honestly whacky plans were one of his favorite pastimes. 

"Hey MegaMan," he said when he was safely lying on his bed again. He did a lot of his best thinking from his bed. "Do we have a withdrawal limit on our bank account?"

"I think so," MegaMan said. He had put on his own set of pajamas tonight. They matched Lan’s. It was really cute. "I think your mom gets notified over a certain amount."

"Hm." Lan chewed on his lip and stared at the ceiling. He'd gotten his own account back when he'd first gotten hired as a net saver. It was a joint account between him and his parents, obviously, but once he'd become a teenager they'd given him a certain amount of financial freedom. Though, when they'd given him the "value of money" talk, they had probably been thinking more about him going out with his friends to eat sometimes. Not this.

"What're you thinking?" MegaMan asked.

"How much do you think it would cost to install a sprinkler system?" 

"Lan!" MegaMan's protest sounded almost reflexive. Then he stilled. "You really aren't counting on her to agree, are you?"

"She hasn't before," Lan pointed out.

"I guess that's true." MegaMan sighed. "I wish there was some way to convince her."

"You leave that to me," Lan said. "But in the meantime I think we should contact Anetta."

"Anetta? Why, what's up?"

"Because if we _are_ gonna use our own money, we're gonna need someone to calculate the most efficient layout possible." And Anetta, he didn't need to add, was currently completing a degree in mathematics and engineering at one of the best universities in the country. At the age of eighteen, she only had one more year to go. "She owes us from the time with the guy!"

"I think she'd do it even if she didn't owe us, Lan," MegaMan said with a smile. "But that's a good idea. Let's talk to her." He tapped his fingers on the edge of Lan's desk. "I can ask ProtoMan to find out what brand they use at the Blaze mansion. I bet someone over there will have some ideas."

"Awesome. Good thinking MegaMan." Lan fell into contemplative silence, trying to imagine the layout of their house in his head.

Problem was, MegaMan mentioning ProtoMan got him thinking about Chaud again, and that got him thinking about his problem from earlier. He wanted to put his possibly-prejudiced reaction aside, but something MegaMan had said to him recently was making it difficult. " _Some people only think they're okay with bi people_." What if he'd only _thought_ he was okay with Chaud being gay?

 _I deal with it on my own,_ he thought fiercely. _Chaud is never gonna have to worry on my account._

Still, that wasn’t only one thing that had been bugging Lan related to Chaud. He wanted to ask MegaMan about the other thing, but he didn't even know what he would say. 

"What is it Lan?" MegaMan asked after a moment. "I can practically hear you thinking from over here."

"MegaMan..." He hesitated, feeling flustered. "Do you think people think I'm. You know. Good looking?" People liked that he was tall, he knew. But _tall_ didn't necessarily mean _handsome_.

"Where did _that_ come from?" MegaMan asked, eyebrows raised. "I've never heard you worry about that before."

"Do you ever worry about stuff like that?" Lan felt a little foolish, but he couldn't help himself.

MegaMan laughed, but he sounded flustered too. "Actually, I kind of never had to."

"What do you mean?"

"People hit on me a lot."

Lan groaned and pulled his pillow over his face. "Aw man, why do you have to be so cool?"

"Just born that way I guess." When Lan lifted his pillow again, he saw that MegaMan was sitting on the edge of his bed. "So what gives? Why do you suddenly care?"

Lan frowned at him. "You not answering my question is kinda making me nervous."

MegaMan smiled at him. It was his best-friend smile. "Yeah, I think you're a handsome guy. And I don't know if you've noticed but people hit on you too."

"What?" Lan sat up. "Who?"

"I dunno!" MegaMan said with a laugh. "People."

"That sounds made up!"

"I've seen it happen," MegaMan insisted. "But I definitely don't think I should call names. That just wouldn't be classy."

"How do you know when people are hitting on you anyway?" Lan mumbled, feeling off-kilter. This stuff was so confusing. 

MegaMan considered. "It actually kind of varies. Like the way people hit on me isn't the way people hit on you."

"Well then what do they say to me?"

MegaMan laughed. "Okay, let me think." Lan watched his gaze turn inward for a moment and then his face cleared. "Got it. Okay, give me your hand." He held up his palm towards Lan and Lan found himself distracted. 

"Whoa, nice nails."

"Thanks.” MegaMan contemplated his black fingernails. “HeavyMetalMan wants me to go to a rock show with him soon. I'm trying to decide on the look."

"Aw man, I wanna go!"

"I'll stream it for you," MegaMan said. "Now give me your hand." Confused but trusting, Lan held out his hand until he and MegaMan appeared to have their palms pressed flat against each other. "Okay. If someone ever does this to you and tells you you've got big hands, that's a come on."

"Really?" Lan thought about this. It had definitely happened to him before. "That... I can see that."

"Yeah. Or if someone asks you how tall you are."

"But _everyone_ asks how tall I am," Lan insisted. "It's like the first thing everyone asks me!" Even Ms. Mari had asked him that when she saw him again after summer break.

"Okay, let me rephrase that." MegaMan held up both hands, placating. "If someone like Sal or Mesa says, 'wow you've really grown,' that's different. But someone is like," and here MegaMan's voice took on a kind of sing-song, "'wowww, you're really talll, how tall are you?' then that's flirting." 

"Huh." All of this made sense but it also brought Lan back to his horrible suspicion from earlier. "So I'm really not good-looking, I'm just tall." 

"No, you _are!_ " MegaMan insisted, looking impossibly fond. "I just thought those would be the best examples. Because you are really tall, those are easy ways for people to compliment you."

"Oh." This all seemed so much like a language that Lan just couldn't understand. But then, he figured, contemplating his hand. Maybe he could learn. Then again, even _wanting_ to learn felt weird. He'd never really felt like he had to before. "Thanks for explaining." He glanced back up at MegaMan, realizing he'd been staring at his hand too long.

"So come on, what gives?" MegaMan asked. "Why the sudden question?" 

"Uhhh." Yeah, why? "I guess I was just surprised. Chaud's only been at his motorcycle club for like a day and already, it's like, wow he seems like he's getting a lot of attention you know?" He rubbed the back of his neck in embarrassment. 

"Oh, is that why you were acting weird on the train?" MegaMan's voice colored with understanding. Lan couldn't even be mad about how well MegaMan knew him because, like that certain tone in Chaud's voice, it was something his life regularly depended on. "Does it bother you?"

Lan opened his mouth and then closed it again. "I...don't know," he admitted finally. "I guess I'm still trying to figure that one out." 

MegaMan smiled. "Well, I'm here if you ever want to talk about it."

"Thanks MegaMan. You're the best."

"I know." His grin turned a little smug. _So cool_. "Good talk?"

"Good talk.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you watch the ending of the first season of NT Warrior, after MegaMan gets deleted, his friends go over to his house and say that they're worried about him and his mom says "Come to think of it, he DOES seem a little off lately," which always struck me as incredibly callous, considering that your son's best friend got dissolved right in front of him. Also his mom never goes to a single match, not even when Lan and MegaMan make it to the final. I read Lan's parents as "cheerful enough but basically ignore him to the point of negligence." There's also a scene in later seasons where Lan's dad outright refuses to help him with his homework even though the reason Lan hasn't done it is because he's been out on a netsaver mission all day. Like dude. Your 12-year-old has a job. Please help him with his homework.


	5. The Deep Web Episode

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a quick chapter from MegaMan's pov, to get some good MegaMan and ProtoMan dynamics. And we do have some talk about Lan's feelings at the end of this chapter so look forward to that. We'll return to Lan and Chaud next time!  
> Oh another note: MegaMan's logo is literally the logo of PsiLabs? So like, way to build a navi for your kid and get if your office logo, Dr. Hikari. Kids love that, definitely.

Since their recon mission that Monday didn't start until 9:30, ProtoMan and MegaMan went out for breakfast first. The concept of early mornings was a little less daunting as a net navi because barring extenuating circumstances (and did MegaMan know all about extenuating circumstances), it was hard to not get the perfect sleep. That, combined with the fact that getting to do a mission like this, which was both fascinating and cutting-edge, had MegaMan in a chipper mood. Not to mention—

"HeavyMetalMan sent me the designs this morning," he told ProtoMan. They were sitting in a booth near the front window. It was crowded in the cafe, they weren't likely to be overheard.

"Any you like so far?" ProtoMan took a sip of his coffee. He drank it jet black because he was both ridiculous and edgy. 

"Mmhm. A few actually. I'll send them to you later."

"You sticking with the same color scheme?" 

"I wanted some blue in there. But I like the orange too. It reminds me of Lan."

"That is so sweet." To anyone else, ProtoMan's tone might have sounded deprecating, but MegaMan could hear the warmth underneath. "I gotta say," he continued after a moment of companionable silence. "I'm glad you're getting this done. The corporate branding isn't really your style."

This was a huge understatement, but MegaMan knew what he meant. "I'm excited. Lan's gonna do the modding when he gets a minute." 

"If you need a placeholder," ProtoMan brought up his mug to hide his sly smile. "You could always wear my branding for a while."

"I think that's called a hickey," MegaMan laughed and was rewarded when ProtoMan choked on his drink. "And I've still got plenty of those. But thanks anyway."

ProtoMan glanced around looking like he wanted to protest. He actually got so embarrassed with public affection. It was too cute. "Someone's mouthy today." 

MegaMan bit his lip to keep from outright grinning. "I think we should probably get the bill," he said after a minute. "We don't wanna be late."

"Roger. Who's turn is it to pay?"

"I got it." MegaMan stood up to head to the front desk. He contemplated, as he went, whether to talk to ProtoMan about Lan's plan to pay for sprinklers in the house. It was getting complicated now that Anetta had offered to do the lawns as well. After a moment, he decided against it. He should ask Lan at least first, to find out if he was comfortable with sharing. He knew Lan felt vulnerable about it. 

He and ProtoMan didn't say goodbye when they left the cafe. ProtoMan just flashed a half smile and said, "See you there."

"See you there." 

Lan was just opening the front door to PsiLabs when MegaMan arrived back in his PET. "There you are!" Lan said with a bright smile. "How was your date?"

"It was good." MegaMan smiled back. "Did you eat breakfast?"

"I drank a smoothie on the way. And I've still got those protein bars in my bag."

"You could probably qualify for a sponsorship with those at this point," MegaMan laughed. "They're definitely 50% of your diet." Not because Lan skipped out on meals either. Because he just ate so many of them.

"They're the only thing that makes me feel full!" Lan's voice rang out across the long control room as he busted in the door. MegaMan, from his vantage point in the PsiLab camera system could see everyone turn to look.

"Finally feeling full, son?" Dr. Hikari asked. "Never thought I'd see the day."

"Haha." Lan plopped himself into a wheelie chair with enough force to coast the rest of the way to his father. "Is Chaud here yet?"

"Oh, you just got a message from him, Lan," MegaMan called. "He just got dropped off."

"Awesome." Lan leaned his head back until he was looking upside-down at the world behind him. "Heya, Famous Man."

"It's just Famous." 

MegaMan chuckled to himself. He never got tired of how Lan never got tired of laughing at the same jokes. There was a burst of sound and then ProtoMan was with him in the PsiLab system. Speaking of people he didn't get tired of... "Long time no see." MegaMan grinned up at him.

ProtoMan looked like he was trying not to smile. "I'm still not over that hickey comment," he muttered. MegaMan laughed out loud.

"Something funny, MegaMan?" Lan asked.

"Ah, just ProtoMan." 

Lan raised an eyebrow down at the PET but didn't press the issue. He had learned a long time ago that MegaMan can and would weaponize his relationship to embarrass the hell out of him. "If you say so."

"Agents," Famous said. "Are you ready?"

"Ready," they confirmed as one.

"We're going to be activating the streaming program, so everything you see will be recorded for later analysis." As he spoke, MegaMan became aware of a flashing notification in the corner of his screen, indicating that the recording had started.

"I'm loading you up now," Lan said. Either he was in the mood to behave today, or he was still feeling weird from the other night, MegaMan figured. Chaud had been standing near him for two minutes and he'd made no move to get his attention. "You know which chips you want?"

"Yeah." MegaMan looked up at him through the screen, his fists clenched to contain his excitement, to show his readiness. "We need ones that are good with analysis. I want SearchSoul, RollSoul and NumberSoul." 

"Sounds good. Then I'll give you ProtoSoul and ThunderSoul for firepower."

"Don't give him ProtoSoul," Chaud cut in. "They can create it manually while they're there if they need to. Give him a different one. Expand their options."

Lan looked surprised but he nodded. "Good idea." He looked down at his PET. "Which other one do you want?"

"Give me WoodSoul. It's the best on defense."

"You got it." He watched Lan turn to Chaud. "Aren't you giving ProtoMan anything?"

"Lan, unlike some people, we loaded up before we came."

Lan's face went from surprise to annoyed, to sticking his tongue out in the span for roughly one second. MegaMan chuckled behind his hand.

Famous' voice pulled them back to the job at hand. "Agent MegaMan, Agent ProtoMan, we proceed at your mark."

"I'm ready," MegaMan said.

"Ready."

"Alright!" Lan sprang up out of his chair. He could never stay still long. "Jack in MegaMan! Power up!"

"Jack in ProtoMan! Power up!"

ThunderMan had sent them the address and passcode needed to access this corner of the deep web. From there, they would be able to get pretty much anywhere, but they would need to do it manually. He had told them that Darkloids had most likely started from a corner of the deep web called the Sunken Place but this web address wasn't going to take them there. The place they were going was more of a free march and most of its citizens were reported to have no broader affiliations.

ThunderMan had offered very little in the way of visual description of this place they were going to, so MegaMan was fully unprepared when they spawned on the landing just inside the server, and looking down, all around them, was, well—

"Is that a river?" Lan asked in his ear. The broad, raging current below certainly seemed to suggest it. When MegaMan looked toward the horizon to his left and right, he could just barely make out the suggestion of formed landmasses.

"It might be a data steam!" Dr. Hikari sounded fascinated. "You have to get closer."

"Right." ProtoMan jumped from the landing, MegaMan right behind him.

There were little islands of land in the middle of the data stream, and they aimed for one of them as they landed. Touching down, the place appeared to be deserted. MegaMan could see the beginnings of building code for disparate things, like stairways, or houses, but mainly this seemed to be a little clump of forested land that was catching together. He and ProtoMan looked at each other and then picked their way towards the edge of their little island.

"RollSoul!" MegaMan intoned. As Roll's data wrapped around his body, he knelt beside the river, on his hands and knees, lowering his antenna into the stream.

"Be careful," ProtoMan said, from where he was perched on a jutting rock, keeping watch.

"I'm always careful."

"Debatable."

MegaMan huffed loudly and focused on what the data being pulled into his antenna was telling him. It was loud, flashing, overwhelming, far too much to even begin to process, but he gritted his teeth and stuck it out, transmitting as much as he could back to PsiLab.

He was completely unprepared for the sudden bad taste that filled his mouth, and he reared back, coughing and spitting. "MegaMan!" Out of the corner of his eye, he saw ProtoMan reach an anxious hand towards him. 

"I'm okay!" MegaMan spat a few more times and found it surreal to discover that his mouth was totally empty. As the sensation faded, he knew with perfect clarity what lines of code had gone into the tea at a cyber cafe in Sharo that he was certain he'd never been to. 

"This is incredible!" Dr. Hikari's voice came. "It appears to be made entirely of junk data! MegaMan, you have to get more information."

"Okay..." MegaMan wiped his mouth with the back of his hand reluctantly, exchanging a look with ProtoMan. "I'll try..."

"Let me do it," ProtoMan said. "I've got a more cursory scan but it'll leave us less vulnerable." Without waiting for an answer, he turned his focus towards the river and MegaMan could see data begin to flash over the screen of his visor. As his scan continued, MegaMan came up to join him on the rock so that he could be the one to hold watch this time.

"That should do for now," Dr. Hikari said after some minutes had passed. "This will give us a good sample to analyze."

"Remember," Famous' voice interrupted. "You're not here just for analysis. You're here to try and make contact as well."

"Which direction do we head now?" MegaMan scanned the horizon. To his left, the far bank of the data river. To his right, the trees of this little island, and more like it. 

"I'm not the one who packed the SearchSoul," ProtoMan said.

MegaMan shoved his shoulder fondly. "Excuse me for asking for suggestions." He looked back to the trees, and finding one that seemed to be a good height, sprang his way up. "SearchSoul!" 

Through the long scope of the sniper rifle, MegaMan began scanning the far shore. Life signatures began to spring up on his radar, more and more of them until there were too many to count. "I think there's a city on the shore over there!"

"Then that's where we'll go." Protoman already had some kind of watercraft waiting on the shore. It must've been one of the chips he brought, MegaMan figured. Climbing down from the tree, he got into the little raft. It was a tight fit; he had to tuck his knees up to his chest. Protoman stood at the back, engaged the handle and they were off.

"Hey MegaMan," Lan said. "Dad thinks we might be able to get a chip to you as long as we send it through the same portal ThunderMan showed up." 

"We're sending you an external probe," Dr. Hikari said. "We can use it to collect data as long as you two are on the river."

"Sounds good to me," MegaMan said.

"Alright, sending it now," Lan said.

MegaMan was reminded, in the five seconds it took Lan to upload the probe chip and re-enter the password, why they had packed battle chips before coming. Waiting that five seconds in a live battle was a good way to get a beating. 

The little probe was shaped like a jelly virus. It materialized in the wake behind their little craft and followed as they went.

It was a little tense at first, cutting across the currently perpendicular as ProtoMan navigated them around any number of small islands. But as the time wore on, and the far shore only inched closer, MegaMan began to relax. 

"This is kind of nice," he said, leaning back on his hands and looking up at the sky. Cloudy viruses flew overhead but they seemed to pay the two of them no attention. ProtoMan hummed. 

"This really is amazing," Dr. Hikari said again. "This data appears to be being fed from all over the world! Some of these signatures are from King Land, Jiwai, everywhere!"

"What do you think it means, Dr. Hikari?" Chaud's voice could be heard.

"I'm not sure yet. But since everything we do online leaves a record, I wonder if this river acts as a catch-all of that record."

As the minutes passed, they were punctuated with comments like, " _Oh did you see that one? Someone's old passwords, it looks like"_ and " _those look like financial records_ ," and " _yikes, I hope that wasn't what I thought it was._ " Neither MegaMan or ProtoMan could see the data being collected so MegaMan just focused on the motion of the craft, and the luxury of getting to enjoy a quiet moment on the job with someone he loved and respected.

Eventually the far shoreline came into view. "Look!" MegaMan pointed. "A dock!" He felt the boat turn as ProtoMan steered them closer. The dock in question was a lonely thing. No other watercraft appeared to be tethered around in, and as they climbed up onto it, they saw that there was only one long road leading away from it. The city skyline (such as it was) was clearer by this point. 

MegaMan and ProtoMan looked at each other. "Why don't I take point on this one," ProtoMan said. 

"After you," MegaMan agreed. 

He trailed slightly behind ProtoMan as they went, keeping an eye and an ear trained on their backline. Eventually the road turned to a sort of cobblestone skin, and houses began to appear. They reminded MegaMan of pictures he had seen in Lan's textbooks about the major cities in the South East Sea that appeared to be stacked and stacked on top of each other. It was kind of jarring to realize after a minute, that almost no one was in the streets.

"Where is everyone?" ProtoMan asked, echoing MegaMan's own thoughts. 

"I don't know... Maybe we're still too far from the city center?" As he spoke, he became aware of a shadow falling over them. He watched ProtoMan turn around, watched his jaw drop slightly.

"MegaMan, you might want to look at that. Slowly."

Gingerly, MegaMan turned his head and then his body. "Whoa—!"

It was a large...cat? Of some kind. Easily two stories tall, completely white except for its fully black eyes. It also, incongruously, had a blue ribbon tied around its neck.

"Maybe you should get out of there," Lan called. 

"Nice kitty..." MegaMan held up his hands placatingly. The cat lifted its head and sniffed at him. Its snout was the size of MegaMan's entire body. Slowly, it opened its mouth. "Wh—Whoa!" MegaMan threw himself backwards just as the cat attempted to bite down.

ProtoMan's hand was on his shoulder in an instant. "Time to go." He grabbed MegaMan's wrist and they ran. The cat gave chase.

"Listen to me!" Dr. Hikari said. "Do not engage! We don't know enough about this place and we can't do anything to come off as hostile so just get yourselves to safety."

"You got area steal with you?" ProtoMan asked as they jumped up onto a nearby rooftop.

"Lan?" MegaMan called, knowing he would have heard.

"Sending it now." As Lan spoke the cat reared onto its hind paws and appeared to bat delicately over the rooftop after them.

 _At least it doesn't seem angry?_ Not that MegaMan was keen to hang around and test that theory. 

"On your mark," ProtoMan said.

MegaMan felt the download complete. "Now!" 

They blinked back into existence in some kind of nearby back alley, also mercifully deserted. Exchanging a look, they both slunk towards the far end, exiting into a plaza of some sort. There were people around, but as MegaMan looked about, he saw viruses hanging out in groups, but appearing to bother no one. As they walked through, they found that the haphazardly spawned trees or street lamps, occasionally turned out to be 2D holograms that only looked 3D at the perfect angle. 

"Oh look!" MegaMan pulled at ProtoMan's hand. "A bulletin board!"

"Alright!" Lan's voice said in his ear. "Maybe we can put up that notice about the job opening!"

"You brought that memo with you?" Chaud's voice was heard. 

"Sure I did. Never hurts to be optimistic."

Chaud's sigh was loud and clear. 

MegaMan laughed to himself and headed over to the bulletin board. There was one other navi standing there already, reading the different postings as they scrolled by, a tall lady with a wolf head and icy coloring. She looked down at him as he approached and he offered her a smile.

"Hey there." 

"Hey yourself."

MegaMan examined the board for a moment, looking for an upload button, or a pin feature or something similar. 

"Looking to make a post?" the wolf lady said, watching him. 

"Ah, yeah." MegaMan scratched at his cheek good-naturedly. 

"Just open the window and drag it onto the board."

"Oh! Thanks." MegaMan did as she said and was gratified when it worked; the information about the job posting scrolling endlessly on repeat in its own little corner of the board. 

"You new in town?" she asked, watching him intently.

"Yeah. We just got here." MegaMan smiled up at her, his most winning smile. "I'm MegaMan, by the way."

"I'm Trouble." He watched her very blue eyes slide just over his shoulder. "Who's Strong and Silent over here?"

"Oh!" MegaMan laughed and turned. "This is ProtoMan. We're—"

"I'm his boyfriend," ProtoMan interrupted smoothly, holding out his hand. MegaMan felt his eyes go wide. They never brought up their personal relationship while they were working. But as Trouble took his hand the two bared their teeth at each other, MegaMan fought the urge to laugh. Some things didn't change apparently, even in the deep web.

"The two of you out on a date?" Trouble asked, looking between them.

"It's more like a day trip," ProtoMan said.

"And you're just posting to bulletin boards while you're on this date-trip? Sounds spicy." 

MegaMan laughed, conscious of the fact that he was blushing. He had just accepted by this point of his life that the blushing was never going to go away. "Who says a date can't involve running errands?"

"Fair enough." 

A loud yowling sound made them all turn. "Uh oh," MegaMan said. "Hope that's not what I think it is." Sure enough a pair of white pointed ears could be seen poking out over the rooftops at the end of the street.

"Time to go?" ProtoMan asked. The cat's face appeared in view. This time there were other people with it. Its eyes immediately honed in on the two of them.

"Definitely time to go!"

"Admirers of yours?" Trouble started to ask, but they were already bolting.

"Nice to meet you!" MegaMan called. Cries of "stop! wait!" could be heard from the people with the cat. 

They jumped up onto the nearby rooftops, looking around for a safe vantage point of a getaway route. "This way!" ProtoMan said. They broke right.

Suddenly Trouble was there, running right alongside them. "Hey so," she said. It was probably due to long years of living a very unusual life that MegaMan didn't startle.

"Trouble," he said, by way of greeting.

"Hey. So I'm just thinking—" She even ran like a wolf, on all fours, with long strides. "—You guys are new in town so you definitely don't know what the Lucky Cat Festival is, do you?"

"The what now?" ProtoMan said.

"The Lucky Cat Festival. Every year, the cat picks a festival champion and that person is the herald of all the good luck in the city for the coming year."

"Really?" MegaMan glanced back over his shoulder. The cat was running down the main thoroughfare, still in pursuit.

"Yeah. Looks like this year she chose you."

"Me?" MegaMan looked over to Trouble with wide eyes. "But how can I be the herald? I don't even live here!"

"Don't worry about it," Trouble said. "It's just a ceremonial thing." She said all this without ever breaking her stride. "So, don't get me wrong, I think that cat running all over town is hilarious, but if you want to see a party today..." She trailed off meaningfully. "Might make for a great date idea."

"Huh." _Well, taking part in a cultural event is probably the best first-contact scenario we can possibly get._ He slowed. 

"Hold on," ProtoMan said. "What happens to the herald at the end of the ceremony?"

"Well we don't eat them if that's what you're asking," Trouble said. "We give them a crown. We send them home. You know."

"I don't. That's why I asked," ProtoMan said. 

"We could just go say hi," Trouble suggested. "Could be fun."

"I guess it could be..." They held their spot on the roof for a few moments longer as the cat approached. 

"Why don't you just let her sniff you," Trouble suggested. "If she really likes you, she probably won't hurt you."

"Thanks for the vote of confidence," ProtoMan quipped. 

"Trouble!" someone called from the ground below as the cat approached. "You know these guys?"

"Hey girl," she called back. "Go easy on them, they're newcomers."

"Oh really?" 

The next few moments were a little hazy when he tried to remember them later, but after a lot of calling back and forth between Trouble and the navis on the ground, MegaMan and ProtoMan found themselves being carried on the back of a giant cat towards the center of this strange city. "Wait till the others hear about this," Lan said in his ear.

"At least it's better than the last time we dealt with a giant cat."

Lan groaned. "You know if it wasn't for how weird everything else in our lives is, I'd probably think I just dreamed that." 

MegaMan couldn't blame him. There had been a lot that happened in their lives, but the day Rush first came to the human world, and all of his friends grew tails and played with yarn was probably one of the weirdest.

"You think you'll get a role in this ceremony?" MegaMan asked over his shoulder to where ProtoMan was sitting. 

"Maybe." ProtoMan cleared his throat. "Hey. Sorry if it was forward of me to tell her we're dating earlier. I thought it might be better if she didn't think we were here in an official capacity."

"Oh." MegaMan considered this. "No, that's a good point. And hey," he nudged back at ProtoMan with his shoulder. "You didn't even have to lie."

ProtoMan snorted. "A cover story that's actually true? _Now_ I've seen everything." 

"This may be the best point of first contact we could have hoped for," Famous's voice said thoughtfully. "You're certainly going to be making a good impression with the locals."

The cat stopped her trundling journey in what appeared to be the town's central plaza. The streets were starting to be lined with people in earnest. There were dozens of hanging overhead walkways as well, and navis sat or stood along them, some waving as the cat and her entourage passed. When they reached the center of the square, she sat down slowly, giving off plenty of visual cues as to what she was about to do, and it was easy for MegaMan and ProtoMan to hop from her back. 

One of the navis who'd walked with the cat, took MegaMan by the hand and said "this way please!" and MegaMan followed willingly. They were led up to a stage in the center of the square, where everyone who'd gathered could see them. Another navi, one with speakers built into their shoulders, turned to address the crowd.

"Ladies! Gentlemen! And those of you who have yet to make up your minds! I give you... your herald!" The crowd erupted into cheers. MegaMan was struck suddenly by the fact that this must be how it felt to fall down the proverbial rabbit hole. He caught ProtoMan's eye. ProtoMan gave a head tilt that on anyone else would have been a shrug.

"Now! Before we whisk this little beauty away and get him ready for the ceremony, let's have him read a fortune for the coming year."

"What kind of calendar are they on?" Dr. Hikari murmured in his ear. "Why start the new year now?"

There was no time to speculate on the answer because a large bowl in the shape of a cat head was being carted towards him. "Go ahead and pick one dear," the navi who'd lead him up onto the stage said.

With a mental shrug, MegaMan reached a hand into the bowl and shuffled his fingers through the slips of paper until he finally grabbed one. Pulling it out, he opened it up. The navi with the speakers for shoulders held a microphone in front of his mouth, encouraging him to speak.

"'Although it’s true that violence never solves anything, it turns out it’s just fine for a quick, temporary fix in many situations,'" he read. There was laughter from the crowd.

"You heard it here first folks!" the speaker yelled. "'Violence never solves anything, but it's temporary fix in many situations!'" There were more cheers and more than a few whistles. Near the front of the stage, Trouble threw back her head and howled. "Let it be so!"

"Let it be so!" the crowd roared back in thunderous unison.

"I mean," ProtoMan murmured in his ear as they were getting whisked off the stage again. "I'd say I disagree with that prediction, but I think that would just make me a hypocrite."

MegaMan snorted. 

"So this is the herald," a kindly looking navi said as she ushered MegaMan into what appeared to be a salon. She had round pink cheeks and stripes all over her body. "What's your name?"

"MegaMan."

"And who's this with you?" She smiled at ProtoMan as she flicked a cape around MegaMan's body. It was a little funny. MegaMan had seen humans get haircuts of course but since navis didn't need them, he had never been in the chair himself.

"He's my boyf—"

"He's the herald's consort," Trouble cut in, grinning to show all her teeth.

"Oh reallyyy." The salon lady peered at ProtoMan with renewed interest. "You know it's been a few years since we had an official consort at the Lucky Cat Festival."

"Should I be worried?" ProtoMan asked, unruffled as usual.

"Oh no, I'm sure someone remembers where we put that costume!" As she laughed, a window appeared besides MegaMan's head. Turning, he saw that it was a diagram of a fully painted face, made up to look like a cat. 

_Guess I know what treatment I'm gonna be getting._

The mention of the past years reminded him of something. "Oh yeah," he asked, watching Mrs. Salon Lady examine his face. She had helpfully affixed a nametag to her uniform. It read ' _StyleMa'am_.' "Why do you have the Lucky Cat Ceremony now? It's not the new year here is it?"

"Nah," Trouble said from where she was filing at her clawed hands. "It's just how we are." She arched a dry eyebrow. "Some people say we actually have more festivals here than any other place in existence."

"Really?" MegaMan twisted to look at her. StyleMa'am tut-tutted and gently turned his head back towards her.

"Hold still please."

"Yeah," Trouble continued. "Technically you could be celebrating something every single day here if you wanted to."

"Most people don't," StyleMa'am added. She began to apply something smooth and creamy to MegaMan's face. The sensation was new. "It's hard to make time for it all!"

"Yeah," Trouble said. "But we've still got the bigger ones."

"Like the Lucky Cat Ceremony," ProtoMan said.

She nodded, pointing her file at him for emphasis. "Exactly, BoyfriendMan."

There was a silence. MegaMan could picture ProtoMan glaring at her. Then there was a huff. "You are so full of it, aren't you?" ProtoMan said. But he didn't sound put out.

"Not as full of it as I could be."

"I'll be real, I don't know what that means."

Trouble laughed, and when she showed all her teeth this time, well. MegaMan could only see it in his peripheral but it looked friendlier. "I guess I don't either. Sometimes you just gotta talk to hear your own voice, you know?"

"I don't."

For the first time in a while, Chaud spoke in MegaMan's ear. "Sounds like someone else I know."

" _Hey!_ " Lan squawked. MegaMan could picture his indignation as he swung around to stare down at Chaud. He held in a chuckle. 

She couldn't hear the conversation happening in his ear but StyleMa'am giggled freely at Trouble. "Now," she said, never pausing in her work. "I'm going to put the white base paint on your face and lips okay? It will probably tickle."

"Got it." 

"And while we're working on you, Trouble why don't you get our official consort into his ceremonial robes?" 

"Where do I even find those?"

"Look in the storage drives upstairs." 

The preparation didn't actually take too long. And their little ceremony outfits even matched, much to MegaMan’s excitement. Though ProtoMan's was black and his was white, but hey come on. They were complementary. MegaMan couldn't deny to himself that he was feeling a little warm and fuzzy about the whole thing as they were led back up onto the cat for the official parade around town.

"You think we're gonna get another textbook entry for this?" Lan asked at one point, as the parade was in full swing and someone had set off _another_ confetti cannon.

"It would be a nice change of pace from learning about all the times we almost died," MegaMan agreed, his wave not faltering for even a second.

"I don't know how I feel about ProtoMan getting entered into a textbook as someone's official consort," Chaud commented. 

"Right," ProtoMan said. "Because it's not like I like this guy or anything."

"Absolutely not," MegaMan said with a grin. "I've never met you in my life."

“Would you like to?”

"Oh come _on_ , you two!" Lan squawked. "My dad is _right_ here!"

"He's old enough to know Lan," MegaMan said. He was smiling so much his cheeks hurt. 

"I hate to break this to you kiddo," Dr. Hikari said. "But I _do_ know what 'consort' means." 

Lan groaned and there was a muffled _thunk_. MegaMan imagined him dropping his head onto the computer console.

"We know your dad has had sex at least once, Lan," Chaud said. 

"I hate you," Lan insisted. "So much."

Chaud sounded unconcerned. "I know." 

All in all, it turned out to be a pretty good, if somewhat unexpected day. There were fireworks to end the ceremony. And even though they were on the clock, ProtoMan held his hand beneath them the whole time. 

_I guess, in a way, we didn't lie to Trouble at all,_ MegaMan reflected as he watched them go off. _This actually did kind of turn into a date._

"Glad you guys decided to stick around for the whole thing," Trouble said when it was time to go. "It's a lot more fun for everyone that way." 

"I'm glad too," MegaMan said. There was still so much they hadn't learned yet. Was every navi here one who had spawned without human help? Did they even know about the Darkloids or the Nebula incident? Had they ever had contact with humans before? But those were questions for another day. For today they'd done enough.

They waved until she'd disappeared from sight and then MegaMan said, "BoyfriendMan, let's go home."

Neither of them saw the icy eyes hidden just around the corner, watching them leave.

\- -

"You know something?" Lan said when it was just the four of them outside of PsiLabs. It was almost dinner time. They had spent an eight hour shift on this first mission. "I could get used to people not shooting at us all the time."

"I could get used to starring in more parades." MegaMan said. He was looking at the image StyleMa'am had sent him of him and ProtoMan in their full regalia. He couldn't wait to post it up in his private server at home.

"Hey Chaud," he heard Lan ask. "Wanna come get dinner with us? Gotta celebrate the most peaceful, chillest mission ever, right?"

"Sorry, but I can't," Chaud said. "I agreed to meet some friends tonight."

"From the motorcycle club?" That got MegaMan's attention. Lan sounded surprised, but as if he was surprised at himself for asking.

"...That's right," Chaud said softly.

"'Kay. Well. Catch you later I guess."

Now MegaMan was _really_ paying attention. Lan sounded wrong-footed and unhappy, in a way that he never was with Chaud. "Lan?" he asked cautiously, once he and Lan were safely on the move again.

"Yeah?" That unhappiness still lingered. It piqued MegaMan's protective side. 

"What's wrong? You mad that Chaud can't hang out?" Sure, Lan was usually pretty vocally disappointed when Chaud was busy, but he also got that Chaud was a busy guy. This funk, this wasn't like Lan at all.

"I..." Lan sighed. "Can we talk about it home?" 

"Yeah. Yeah, of course."

Mrs. Hikari and Lan ate dinner in relative quiet, though quiet for the two of them was more Mrs. Hikari continuing her usual stream of cheerful news about her walking club and comments about how things around the house were that day, with Lan offering up far less commentary than usual. MegaMan couldn't even guarantee that his mom noticed anything was wrong.

Sometimes, he was forced to admit to himself that he agreed with ProtoMan's assessment of the Hikari family.

 _"I know neglect when I see it,"_ ProtoMan had said. _"Have you noticed how you never see Chaud's dad?"_

Lan helped wash up the dishes after dinner and for once he didn't seem to want company, so MegaMan left him to it. Instead he changed into his pajamas and focused on arranging some of the shots from their mission today in his room. He already had a selfie of him and Lan on the wall (taken on the first day Lan got the hologram in his room working), and a group shot of him and his friends, and one by his bed of ProtoMan, almost out of the frame, grinning and disheveled. MegaMan had been sitting on his chest for that one. ProtoMan had been laughing and saying he didn't look good enough to photograph but MegaMan had categorically denied it.

He had a few other things too, like a poster of the idol singer Aki, which he'd gotten autographed. There was also a poster he'd gotten from the air and space museum of aircraft through the ages. And nestled next to the group shot of his friends was a menu from the old #1 Curry restaurant. 

He was just contemplating looking at Tamako's logo designs for him when he heard Lan open the door to his room. MegaMan popped out to join him. 

"Lan?"

"Hey MegaMan."

"Do you still wanna talk about it?" 

Lan sighed. He was sitting backwards in his desk chair, arms crossed over the back. "It sounds dumb."

"I'm sure it doesn't." MegaMan sat on his bed. He studied Lan's face, and realized with a shock that the emotion he was seeing there looked a hell of a lot like uncertainty. Uncertainty was so far removed from Lan Hikari it might as well have been on the other side of the moon. "Lan, come on talk to me."

Lan took a deep breath, as if steeling himself and said, "Do you think youcanbehomophobictowardsoneperson?"

MegaMan blinked. "What?"

"Do you think you can be homophobic, just towards one person?" Lan ran a hand over his face. He seemed genuinely distressed.

This was not what MegaMan had been expecting. "I think you're either homophobic or you're not," he began slowly. "I mean, there's always stuff you might not have realized you were thinking wrong. That you need to work on."

For some reason, this seemed to make Lan's face fall even further. "That's what I was afraid of," he mumbled. 

"Lan, what's going on?"

Lan sighed and rubbed at the back of his neck. "I'm not proud of it okay? But I think... I think I'm being homophobic about Chaud."

MegaMan blinked again. "How are you being homophobic about Chaud?"

"I dunno! I just. I really don't like when he says he can't hang out because he's going to his motorcycle club. And besides! What if he meets _boys_ there, like MayLu says?" Lan buried his face in both hands. "I don't know what's wrong with me," he mumbled.

A creeping realization was coming over MegaMan. He was actively trying not to smile. Between this, and Lan's anxiety around his reaction to Chaud coming out, and his questions about if people thought he was good-looking....a certain picture was starting to form. 

"So," he began slowly. "You don't get annoyed when I go hang out with ProtoMan?"

"No!" Lan dropped his hands to glare at him. "I told you, it's just Chaud. That's why it's so weird!"

It was getting _really_ hard to smile. MegaMan tried to cover it by fishing at his back teeth with his tongue. "What about this?" he asked, cupping a hand to the side of his neck where Mr. BoyfriendMan had left some physical evidence behind. He was almost not blushing. "Do you care about this stuff? Like, seeing it?"

Lan shook his head. "Nah, that's like, cool you know? It just makes me think you're a cool guy."

MegaMan laughed out loud. He couldn't help it; that was probably the most innocent way to describe someone else getting a hickey. "Thanks." Sobering up, he returned to the topic at hand. "So what about if Chaud showed up next time with hickeys on his neck? Would you think he was a cool guy then?"

He was not ready for how fast Lan's expression shuttered, or how awkwardly he shifted in his chair. He'd never seen anything similar on Lan, short of outright depression. "No," Lan admitted finally. "I guess not." He sighed and looked back up at MegaMan. "Do you think it's like you were saying before? Like it’s just something I didn't realize I needed to work on?"

"Like you thought you were okay with guys kissing guys, but suddenly you realized you're not okay with Chaud kissing other guys?" What he wouldn't give for ProtoMan's poker face right now. 

"Yeah! Exactly!" And then, "hey! MegaMan, this isn't funny!"

It was MegaMan's turn to cover his face. "Sorry! Sorry," he said finally, schooling his expression into something more neutral. "I just don't think you're being homophobic."

"I'm not?" Lan blinked, his face opening back up. "Then what's going on?"

MegaMan sighed and tried to marshal his thoughts. "I don't think it's a good idea to try and tell someone else what they're feeling, Lan," he said finally. "But I do wanna help you out. So I'll tell you what—" and as he spoke, Lan sat up straighter. "You take a day and think about it. And if you're still confused after then, I'll tell you what I think is going on, okay?"

"What? No fair!" Lan rolled forward in his chair until he was up in MegaMan's face, as if trying to divine the answer from his expression. "Why can't you tell me now?"

"It's a hell of a thing to be wrong about," MegaMan said, holding up his hands, placating. "I mean," he glanced away with a smile. "I don't think I'm wrong, but you never know I guess."

_"MegaMan!"_

"Okay, okay, how about I give you a hint." Lan nodded vigorously at this, so MegaMan continued. "You feel kinda sick when you think about Chaud meeting boys right? And kissing them?"

"Yeah...?" Lan eyed him uncertainly, clearly unsure where this was going. 

"Why don't you ask yourself this; would you still feel sick if he was kissing _you?_ " 

Lan's eyes widened comically. His jaw dropped slightly.

"Just think about it Lan. If the answer to that question is yes, then I'll agree your being homophobic. If not... then we can talk about it."

"MegaMan!" Lan whined, climbing out of the chair and onto the bed, ineffectually falling right through his hologram. "MegaMan, what does that _mean?_ MegaMan? _MEGAMAN!"_

MegaMan's laughter could be heard all the way downstairs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> MegaMan, kicking down ProtoMan's door, having known about Chaud's crush on Lan for years: PROTOMAN HOLY FUCK


	6. Attack on PSI Lab

Lan was having a crisis, which was a pretty new thing for him. To not have a crisis was like, a talent of his. It allowed him to be very good at his job. Don't _ask_ why bad guys can suddenly materialize in the human world, just grab a synchro chip and get in there. Don't ask _how real_ aliens are, just get in the street and fight the giant robot. Don't worry about not ever seeming to know what his friends were saying when they talked about who was hot, at least he'd always have Chaud!

Lan's eyes widened and he sat up at his desk, thousand-yard-stare boring out the window.

"Lan!" Ms. Mari said. "Looks like someone just had a breakthrough about the history of chess!"

 _What?!_ Lan thought wildly, whipping around to stare at the front of class. 

She looked at him way too knowingly. They were doing this history lesson in honor of MayLu. The class had been following the tournament in Brightland very closely. There was a bracket chart on the wall. Everyone was going to get together the nights of MayLu's matchups.

"Would you like to tell us the name of the tournament where the first woman ever beat a male grandmaster?" Ms. Mari repeated.

"I..." _I think I know that one? It was that lady MayLu really likes. She's basically got a shrine to her set up in her room..._ Lan squinted, trying to picture it. _There was a poster on the wall from that tournament too. What was the flag in the background...?_

"If you don't know the answer—" Ms. Mari began.

"Sharo!" Excitement made him yell it. "Sharo vs. Everyone Else. That was the tournament."

Ms. Mari was visibly surprised, but she smiled. "That's right Lan! The tournament was actually called Sharo vs. The Rest of the World. Does anyone know anything else about the rest of the tournament?"

Lan grinned. "Wasn't that the one where someone attacked the raining champion with drone that had a dild—"

" _Anyone else?_ " Ms. Mari said, ignoring him. Tory gave him a conspiratorial grin.

"Yeah," he whispered, leaning over. "It was."

"Pretty funny," Lan whispered back.

"Pretty funny," Tory agreed.

They had messages from MayLu after school. Messages to just him and Tory, not the group chat. The three of them were the closest just due to the fact that the others had either moved schools a lot (like Yai and Dex) or never went to the same school to start with (like Shuko). 

From: MayLu  
 _ugh, okay do you two remember that other under 20 chess champion? Tora?_

From: BestBoy  
 _isn't he that guy to conned me into wagering megaman on live tv  
_ _and then we were friends after_

"Isn't that most of the people you meet?" Tory asked.

From: Tory  
 _Isn't that most of the people you meet_

From: MayLu   
_I thought he was maybe kind of okay after that time we met him  
_ _but he's here now and he's so annoying!  
_ _I'm at breakfast and he came over to tell me how it's so adorable that I made it here  
_ _it was so patronizing!  
_ _guys if I don't beat him I'm gonna lose it  
_ _< (ᗒᗣᗕ)՞>_

"Wow she's pretty riled up," Lan commented.

"I mean, based on what I remember about that guy, I can't blame her," Tory said.

From: BestBoy  
 _Get him MayLu  
_ _teach that guy a lesson_

From: Tory  
 _YEAH  
_ _Show him who's boss  
_ _You were regional champion when you were younger than him anyway_

From: MayLu  
 _Thanks guys  
_ _I just hate being talked down to_

From: BestBoy  
 _Totally  
_ _it sucks_

From: Tory  
 _He's just trying to mess with you because he knows you're competition_

From: BestBoy  
 _Yeah!  
_ \\\ _٩(๑`^´๑)۶／／_

From: MayLu  
 _Thanks for hearing me out  
_ _ugh I need to win this_

"I wonder if he was trying to flirt with her," Tory said thoughtfully, looking out across the school yard. 

"You think so?"

"I mean..." Tory shrugged. "I can't tell since I'm not there, but he did call her adorable. Who knows."

"Huh." Lan looked back down at their chat log. He didn't have any insight into this kinda stuff but he was inclined to trust Tory. _Not a lot gets past Tory._

"He'd better give it up though if that's actually what he's trying," Tory continued.

"What do you mean?"

"MayLu doesn't like hair pulling."

Lan's brain fully bluescreened for a moment. All he could think about was the last time he'd talked to Tory about girls and hair pulling and how that led to him at Chaud's house watching a hellish sex scene. "Tory," he began carefully. "When you say 'hair pulling...?'"

Tory laughed. "Get your mind out of the gutter! No, I mean like, pigtail pulling. You know, when little kids don't know how to handle liking someone so they chase them around the schoolyard? MayLu's never liked guys who do that."

Something was nagging at Lan's brain but he couldn't quite put his finger on it. "Does anyone like that?" he asked.

"Well," Tory said with a laugh. " _You_ do."

Lan stared at him.

"I mean, it's been a while, but yeah, it's that whole hanging around just to tell you that you suck, and saying stuff like 'you better not lose to anyone but me,' and stuff." Tory's voice lapsed into what was clearly supposed to be an impression of someone, but he was bad enough at impressions that Lan didn't know who it was.

"None of my friends say stuff like that to me," Lan said with a frown. "I mean Chaud used to but—" His eyes went wide.

"Yeah," Tory nodded, affirming this. "That's what I'm talking about. You guys started to be friends so he didn't have to act that way anymore." 

"But I— What— We don't act that way now?" Lan's brain had stopped working.

"Well it's different when you're friends," Tory explained. "When you bother someone you're friends with, that's more okay because you know where the other person's limits are."

Lan leaned heavily on the concrete wall for a moment. _I mean sure, I always bother Chaud but that's just to get his attention, I—Oh_. He felt his face starting to flame up. He was staring at Tory again. Tory was looking back at him in concern.

"Was I not supposed to know?" he asked, suddenly sounding mortified. "Oh no, I wasn't supposed to know was I, I'm sorry Lan I didn't mean to embarrass you—"

"Is it really obvious?" Lan's voice sounded a little pained in his own ears.

"Well, you said he's your favorite! It wasn't that hard to figure out."

"He is, I just—" One of Lan's hands fell to his knee. 

"Lan are you okay?"

"Oh no." Lan stared at the ground. "What do I do?"

"What do you mean?"

"I've never had a crush before! I don't know what to do!"

"Lan it's okay." Tory put a hand on his shoulder and Lan finally looked up. "Is it just that I know that's got you all freaked out? I'm really sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

"No, it's not that." Lan finally straightened back up and ran a hand over his face. "I just... I've been figuring a lot of stuff out lately I guess."

Tory looked up at him with concern. Lan suddenly felt grateful that if he had to have this conversation with anyone it was with Tory. Tory really was one of the kindest people he'd ever met. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Honestly, I don't think I have it figured out enough to talk about," Lan said. "I... I'll let you know, okay?"

"Okay." Tory smiled, and they continued on their way. "Just let me know."

They had just stopped by the convenience store to pick up snacks when Lan got a call from his dad. "Lan, we need you to get down to PsiLabs right away."

Lan paused from reaching a packet of shrimp chips from off the top shelf. "What's wrong?"

"We received an anonymous tip that someone is going to try to break in here tonight. It might just be a prank, but we need to treat it as real."

"Sounds good." Lan looked at Tory. "You coming?" His friends had been tagging along with every mission for so long that it seemed pointless to stop now. Lan had paperwork in a file folder somewhere that had them all listed as official deputies if anyone ever asked. It had been MegaMan's idea.

"Absolutely." 

"Awesome. I've got my roller wheels in my backpack. You wanna take my board?" 

"Sounds good to me."

"Lan," came a familiar voice from his PET. He felt his stomach twist. "Where are you? I can come pick you up," Chaud said.

"I'll send you the address," MegaMan said before Lan had a chance to answer.

"Perfect. On my way." Chaud hung up. 

There was a moment after he ended the call where Lan and Tory just looked at each other. Lan searched for something to say to quell his sudden bout of nervousness. "Sooo, do we still get snacks?"

"We should," Tory said. "I'm hungry."

By the time Chaud pulled up, Lan and Tory had mostly finished the shrimp chips. "Hey Chaud," Tory said as they climbed in. "Thanks for giving us a ride." 

"Don't mention it."

Lan breathed deeply. "Want some snacks?" 

Chaud's attention shifted to the grocery bag in Tory's hand. "What did you get?"

"Well we mostly finished the shrimp chips," Tory said, digging through it. "We have some melon milk, some seaweed, some of those weird dog bones Lan likes—"

"Hey!" Lan insisted. His voice felt too loud. "They're good, okay!"

"You know who eats dog bones?" Chaud said in that unassuming tone. Lan could read at least three different meanings from that tone depending on whether Chaud was genuinely angry or about to dunk on someone or both. This time it was the one which meant he was definitely trying to dunk. 

"Uh, _I_ do?" Lan frowned at him. "What about it?"

"Dogs, Lan. Dogs eat dog bones."

"Dogs are people too," Tory said mildly. "Look at Rush."

"Yeah. Thank you, Tory." Lan glared at Chaud meaningfully. "Look at Rush."

Chaud just raised an eyebrow and didn't bother to dignify that with a response. 

As the drive wore on, Lan kept sneaking glances at Chaud, his brain working overtime. How could it feel so accurate for Tory to say he liked Chaud when the details didn't feel like how other people described it? Most people said they felt too nervous to even talk to the person they liked, talked about totally clamming up whenever they were around. Nobody seemed to climb into their crush's lap in the middle of an official meeting or tried to wrestle them into submission whenever they were being particularly stuck up. Even now when he was feeling completely off balance, there was a part of him that wanted to put his feet up on Chaud's lap just so Chaud would look at him. 

_Okay, that last part does sound kinda gay._ He felt almost giddy at the thought.

And sure, a lot of people thought their crush was the best looking person in the world, but Chaud was different. Chaud objectively was. Right? He was so good looking that even Lan had noticed it. Lan glanced over at Tory, struck by a sudden wave of uncertainty. Maybe he'd ask Tory later. 

Chaud was frowning at his PET. Lan tried to make himself focus. "Famous," Chaud was saying. "Any update?" 

"Nothing yet. And we still haven't been able to get any follow up on the source of the tip."

"How were we contacted?"

"It's the strangest thing. There was an email sent to the head of HR at Control X." 

"Control X?" Lan sat forward, trying to see Chaud's PET screen. "I thought we were going to PsiLab."

"That's what’s so strange," Famous said. His perpetual frown deepened. "Why contact Control X to warn us of an attack at PsiLab? They didn't even refer to PsiLab by name. They sent coordinates."

"I wonder if we should get someone standing by at Control X," Chaud said. "In case this turns out to be a diversion."

"What about Sal and Miyu?" Lan suggested. "They live close by."

"Good thinking," Famous agreed. "I'll see if they're available. We'll get someone over there either way." 

Everything seemed deceptively calm as they pulled up outside PsiLabs. Lan's dad was waiting in the control room like usual. "Hi Dad!"

"Hey Lan." Dr. Hikari smiled over Lan's shoulder. "Hi Chaud, hi Tory. All quiet so far—"

The alarm started going off.

"Spoke too soon!" Lan pulled his PET out of his belt. "Jack in, MegaMan!"

"IceMan!"

"ProtoMan!"

"It's overrun with viruses in here Lan," MegaMan's voice called over the comms once he had materialized inside the mainframe.

"That was fast." Lan eyed the display screen, where sure enough, MegaMan's feed was showing viruses of all kinds, as far as the eye could see.

"Lan," Chaud said. "You and MegaMan focus on tracking whoever's doing this. ProtoMan and IceMan can begin wiping the viruses."

"Sounds good to me. MegaMan, I'm sending you SearchSoul."

He watched on the feed as MegaMan peered through his scope. IceMan and ProtoMan stood at his 3 o' clock and his 9, blasting the viruses that attempted to surround them. Lan gritted his teeth. Honestly, he preferred the enemies who showed themselves right away but if MegaMan could at least tag them, they could begin to identify the threat.

"Lan!" MegaMan warned. "They're in the air circulation system."

Lan groaned. "Oh you gotta be kidding me!" He took off running. "This always happens!"

"Lan!" Chaud ran after him, Tory hot on his heels. Lan continued to rant.

"I mean seriously!" The lockdown doors were beginning to close. He had to duck under one. Chaud and Tory didn't. "Do all bad guys have an air-con fixation or something?"

"If I was Dex, I would probably say they're into breathplay." Tory's voice held the bizarre casualness of someone who was used to running for his life.

"I don't know what that means," Lan complained. He bowed his upper body to duck under the next door. 

"Of course you don't," Chaud sighed. Lan felt the back of his neck heat. They had reached the roof access shaft though, which meant he had other fish to fry.

"Tory," he said. Tory and Chaud halted too. "I need you to get to the roof and open the manual air vents for my dad in the lab, okay?"

"Got it."

"You'll need a key." Lan reached into his bag and hastily pulled out the set of keys, hastily unclipping the one marked " _roof._ " Marking them had been Megaman's idea. "Go!"

"See you on the other side, guys." Tory took the key and began to climb. 

"Lan, we need to go," Chaud said. 

"Right."

"Chaud!" ProtoMan's voice came from the PET. "They've got access to our dimensional area generators! They're activating."

"Understood." Chaud looked at Lan, gaze sharp. "You hit the switch. I'll get the door."

"Okay." He took the last door in a baseball slide as Chaud started to activate the hydraulic override. In a world where even toasters could be hacked, the two of them had long believed in the gospel of mechanical engineering. 

"Lan! Give us the synchro chip!" MegaMan called. 

"Did you tag 'em yet?" Lan saw the electrical box up ahead. He doubled his speed. 

"Not yet, but Lan, come on, we should suit up."

"No, not until we have to! Keep looking." Lan slid to a stop on the recently waxed floor. Recovering, he flung the box open. Chaud's voice could be heard on the other side of the door.

"Synchro chip in!"

Viruses were starting to form in the hallway. Big ones too, the wolf ones. His target was so agonizingly close but Lan knew better than to turn his back to the enemy, especially when he hadn't crossed-fused. He pressed himself to the wall and waited.

Chaud didn’t keep him waiting long. ProtoMan's enhanced strength made short work of the hydraulic crank. The door wrenched open and then Chaud was in the hallway with him. In a tenth of the space of a blink, he put himself between Lan and the viruses, sword ready. "Lan, do it!"

Lan felt the familiar wave of calm wash over him. "Right." Finally, he turned back to the circuit breaker and took out his keys again. Finding the one marked " _kill switch_ ," he jammed it into its slot and turned it hard enough to crack his wrist.

There was a whirring sound as PsiLabs' entire building powered down. Distantly, Lan could hear the cough as the backup generators tried to kick in and were denied. And then the crumpling sound as the dimensional area fell apart, choked out by the lack of power. 

He turned to look at Chaud over his shoulder, watching the burst of energy as Chaud and ProtoMan's cross-fusion broke, and Chaud turned to look back up at him, clear eyed and confident. He made a note again to ask Tory if it wasn't true that Chaud was the best looking guy in town. 

"Good work," Chaud said. 

"Thanks. And thanks for watching my back."

"I always do." 

Lan couldn't help it; he slung an arm over Chaud's shoulders. Maybe he should also ask Tory about if other people had crushes like this; where someone being awesome made you want to move towards them, not away. Made you more confident, not less. "Let's go get the others."

As they worked on opening each of the blast doors, Lan said, "Hey MegaMan, did Tory make it to the roof?"

"Yup. I can get him on the line for you if you'd like."

"Yes please!"

"Hey Lan," Tory's voice came.

"Tory! You okay?"

"Yup. I got those vents open. You want me to come back the way I came?"

"Uh." Lan hesitated. He glanced at Chaud.

Chaud shook his head. "There's a fire escape on the north end of the building. Take that down. We're evacuating fully, we'll meet you outside." 

"Got it. See you there."

"Oh and you might want to wait across the street in case someone tries to take PsiLabs again," Chaud continued. "We don't want you stranded on your own inside a dimensional area again."

"Good idea," Tory said. "I almost had to use my taser that time."

"Your _what?_ " Chaud looked at Lan, as if to say " _did you know about this?_ " Lan shrugged.

"Yeah they got them from the same people who outfit Yai's maid squad. Just because you can't crossfuse, doesn't mean you shouldn't defend yourself."

Chaud looked impressed. "Touché.” Lan felt a burst of pride. His friends were the _best._

"Meet you out there!" Tory said and ended the call. 

Dr. Hikari and his assistants had gotten the last door open by the time Chaud and Lan got to them. "Are you okay boys?" Dr. Hikari asked. "Are you hurt?"

"We're okay," Lan said. He grinned down at his father. "Bet you're glad we talked you into all those manual overrides now, aren't you?"

"I sure am," Dr. Hikari said with a laugh. Lan heard Chaud exhale strongly through his nose. He knew Chaud in particular had never forgiven PsiLabs for the fact that when they first started as net savers the so-called "manual override" was still entirely electronic. And that it had been him and Lan who had suggested the changes.

 _"They can't make changes if they don't know there's a problem!"_ Lan had said once.

 _"It's called 'thinking ahead' Lan!"_ Chaud had snapped. He'd been angry because he'd been worried. 

They both got a call from Famous as they were exiting the building. Chaud picked up first, so Lan looked over his shoulder. "Is everyone alright?"

"We're fine," Chaud said. "What's our next move?"

"I've just been contacted by Control X. There was no attack there, but they did receive another email from the same source. I'm forwarding it to you now."

Tory was waving to them from across the street, and Lan absently waved him over before looking back down to read the email.

To: _HumanResources@ControlX.gov  
_ _To whom it may concern,  
_ _I think that went pretty well! Hope you guys think so too. It did take your agents 3:56 minutes to neutralize me and a lot can happen in that time, but still! Nothing to sneeze at! If it's a good time for you guys, I'd like to meet with MegaMan and ProtoMan and debrief about how it went?  
_ _I look forward to hearing from you,  
_ _Trouble  
_ _^ ^  
_ _( Φ ω Φ )_

"Trouble?" MegaMan said. "But that's—"

ProtoMan made a disgruntled hum that would have been a groan on anyone else. "I can't believe I'm about to get called BoyFriendMan in an official meeting."

"Aw," MegaMan teased. "But it's so cute."

"What happened?" Tory asked, catching up to them as they reached the base of the steps which led up to the main building. "Any news?"

"Yeah." Lan looked at him in surprise. "It looks like the culprit is someone we know."

Dr. Hikari sent his assistants home for the day and the rest of them regrouped in the back of Chaud's limo, on their way to Control X. 

"What's your read of the situation?" Famous was asking them. "What do you think the navi Trouble was trying to accomplish?"

"Well," MegaMan said thoughtfully. "She _did_ see our job posting. Maybe she was scoping it out."

"I mean, 'to whom it may concern?' That reads how I start all my emails to important people," Lan said. 

"Nobody says 'to whom it may concern anymore,'" Chaud said.

"What?"

"He's right," Tory confirmed, the traitor. "These days you can usually find the name of the person from human resources if you really try." 

"Good thing I already have a job then," Lan said haughtily. 

"So what if it turns out she is asking for a job?" Tory said. "Are you going to meet with her?"

"I don't like it," Dr. Hikari said. "If she wanted a job, why did she attack us in the first place?"

"But she did warn us beforehand Dad," Lan pointed out.

"Be that as it may," Famous' voice cut in. "I think we should be wary about meeting her."

"What do ProtoMan and MegaMan think?" Chaud asked. "They're the ones who would actually take the meeting."

"I'm not opposed..." MegaMan said thoughtfully.

"She should make a gesture of good will," ProtoMan said. "Show us how she got in so we can fix it." 

Dr. Hikari appeared to be turning this over. "That's a good idea. It would show that she actually wants to work with us, not just toy with us." 

"We should also meet her on neutral ground," MegaMan said. "Not let her into the Control X system."

Famous hummed his assent. "We'll get it set up." 

Sal and Miyu were waiting in the lobby when they finally arrived at Control X. "Hey!" Lan's wave to Sal was especially enthusiastic. "Sal! Haven't seen you in a while." His voice echoed around the mostly empty lobby.

"Well you know how it is," she said with a grin as she rose to meet him. "Duty calls." 

"We're going to take this meeting through the internet cafe in the foyer," Famous told them. "Someone should be there to open it up, so head there now."

Once they had all got settled inside, MegaMan and ProtoMan logged in. "We sent the response," Famous said. "She knows where to meet us."

Trouble found them pretty quickly (hah). She appeared in the cafe's server in a flash of electric blue, accompanied by three wolf viruses that immediately began sniffing out the area. "MegaMan! ConsortMan!"

"Huh," ProtoMan said. "Worse than I imagined."

One wolf virus was sniffing MegaMan's face. "Nice doggy," MegaMan said with a grin. 

"They won't hurt you," Trouble said, pulling up a chair to join them at their little table. "They know you're with me." Her ears were perked and her tongue lolled out of her mouth when she wasn't talking, the very picture of canine relaxation. 

"Thanks for meeting us," MegaMan said.

"Yeah! Glad you got my message. How'd everything go on your end?"

Lan watched MegaMan and ProtoMan glance at each other. "Trouble, to clarify," ProtoMan said. "That was a test right? You weren't trying to pose a real threat."

"I mean, sure it's a bit unorthodox," she said. One of the wolves laid its head in her lap and she scratched between its ears absently. "But you guys up here topside are really into like, portfolios and stuff right? The way I see it, problem is, there's no real way to have a portfolio for a security position."

"What?" MegaMan asked with a smile. "They don't do resumes in your world?"

"Resumes are for chumps," Trouble said. She spread her legs wide and slung one arm over the back of her chair, her other hand still scratching her wolf. "Besides. What could you have done? Checked my references?"

Lan made eye contact with Chaud. On Chaud's face was the grudging concession that, maybe, Trouble had a point. 

"Well you definitely got our attention," MegaMan said. "But we do need to ask: can you show us how you got into PsiLabs? We're gonna need to patch that one way or the other." 

"Oh sure!" Trouble said. "I can patch it for you!"

"No Trouble." MegaMan's tone managed to be both patient and friendly. "We're gonna need to patch it ourselves. Think of it as a trust thing."

One of Trouble's ears flicked. "A trust thing?"

"It's not that we don't like you for the job," ProtoMan said. "But you gotta show us you're willing to play with the team." 

"Oh. Okay, I see what you're saying." She rubbed at her muzzle thoughtfully. "Well, I mean, if it's as exciting up here as I've heard it is, I'm sure I could learn to live with being a team player."

"Why don't we fix that backdoor first," ProtoMan said. "And then we can all take some time to think about this." 

"But I made a good showing right?" Trouble asked. "I gotta be one of your stronger candidates."

Lan could practically hear everyone in the room thinking, _Actually you're our only candidate._ He caught Chaud's eye again and grinned with more force than was probably necessary, but Chaud smiled back. 

"Definitely," ProtoMan said smoothly. "So why don't we wrap this up, you can show us how you got in, and we'll call it a day."

"Sounds good to me." Trouble rose to her feet. "We heading back to Control X together?"

"Trouble..." MegaMan said. " _This_ is Control X. Or close to it. You were attacking PsiLabs."

"Hm? PsiLabs?" Trouble pulled what appeared to be dog treats out of her pocket. "Never heard of it. Is that like, a subsection of the Control X people?"

"No it's something completely different." MegaMan frowned up at her thoughtfully. "Hey, if you didn't know what PsiLabs was... why'd you attack it?"

"What do you mean why?" Trouble's tone indicated it should have been obvious. "That's where you guys were!"

In the human world the silence was broken but the sound of Lan and Tory smacking their foreheads.

\- -

"You know what I think?" Tory said when the day was finally over. Sal and Miyu were going to give him, Lan and Dr. Hikari a ride home. "I think we'd have a lot less run-ins if MegaMan and ProtoMan weren't such big commodities."

"Right!?" Lan squawked. "I have been thinking that for _years!_ " 

Chaud chuckled. "Hot girls have problems too I guess." He looked extremely gratified when Lan laughed out loud. 

_Aw, I guess he still likes me some._ "Hey," Lan said, resting his elbow on Chaud's head. "When are we gonna hang out again? It's been a while." He felt bold on the back on their good day, on the back of all the things he was finally starting to process.

"We hung out at my birthday," Chaud pointed out from under his arm. But he was smiling.

"Yeah, that was like two whole weeks ago! That's like forever."

Chaud's smile widened. "Well I'll see where I can pencil you in."

Lan's grin split his whole face. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Sal and Miyu watching them fondly. Miyu especially looked way too knowing.

 _Aw man,_ he thought, withdrawing his arm. _Does_ everyone _know?_

He was vibrating with the urge to talk to Tory about it, to asking him _hey what the hell is up with liking someone_ but Sal and Miyu were in the front seats and his dad was in the back behind them, so they mostly just talked work the whole way back to Tory's house. 

"Hey Tory," Lan said, as Tory was climbing out. 

"Hm?" Tory looked back at him, curious at first. 

“I, uh…”

Tory’s expression morphed into something kind. "Text me and MayLu later?"

Lan nodded. "Sounds good."

\- -

From: BestBoy  
 _hey guys  
_ _hypothetical question  
_ _do you always have to be nervous around the person you like?_

From: MayLu  
 _owo  
_ _hey what's up Lan_

From: Tory  
 _I think it's different when you've known them a long time_

From: MayLu  
 _well, well, well  
_ _are we finally gonna talk about someone's crush_

From: BestBoy  
 _maylu be cool!!  
_ _ok next question  
_ _if you really can't stand the idea of someone hanging out with other guys, is there a word for that?_

From: MayLu  
 _yeah  
_ _Jealousy_

From: Tory  
 _you mean jealousy?_

From: BestBoy  
 _dammit_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1\. By my count there were at least three separate occasions in canon where a bad guy tried to hack the air vents  
> 2\. If you haven't you should really watch the one episode where everyone meets Tora. Idgaf if he and Lan are friends at the end, Lan is just too nice  
> 3\. We're almost to the end!! thank you for reading this far!


	7. Spiced Mush

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those of you who maybe never got that far in the tv show, Ms. Yuri is one of the main villains in season 3 and is directly involved in Chaud having to sacrifice ProtoMan.  
> Also there's literally an episode in the third season where Lan can't find a movie he wants to rent so Chaud flies the movie's actors in from another country to meet him. And then takes him to private screening. This is also the same episode where Lan literally sits in his lap. It's pretty straight.

That night, Lan lay awake for a long time, staring at the ceiling. He was thinking about...mushy stuff. Or maybe not just mushy stuff. Not just the mushy stuff that Yai liked in her dating games or whatever. But the stuff that Tory and Dex talked about sometimes that he could never follow, but knew came naturally to a lot of people. Spicy mushy stuff. Spiced mush.

Did Chaud like having his hair pulled?

 _...He might not even know if he does,_ Lan thought after a moment. If Chaud had ever been on a real date with actual kissing involved, Lan felt pretty confident he would have heard about it.

_Is it like. Real hair pulling anyway? Like when you're fighting dirty? Or is it code for something?_

He frowned at the ceiling, folding his arms over his chest. What if Chaud was out there looking at other guys (and hoo boy did Lan's imagination have things to say about that) because he didn't think he could ask Lan? Lan wasn't a complete idiot. He knew that some stuff went beyond friendship. He knew there was stuff you didn't ask a friend to do, no matter how close you were.

But hey, how many times did you have to save a guy's life anyway, before your relationship went "beyond friendship?"

 _"I think talking about it is what matters,"_ said the MegaMan in his head. 

So what would he say then? _"Hey Chaud don't ask other dudes to pull your hair, I'll do it?"_

Would he though? Lan tried to picture it and found it was way too easy. He'd touched Chaud's hair a million times, especially once he'd finally gotten taller than the guy. Soft hair. And pretty hair. Everyone said so.

Except Tory in their group chat earlier but what did Tory know?

From: Tory  
 _Sorry  
_ _I mean I get that a lot of people think he's hot but I just don't see it_

From: BestBoy  
 _wait  
_ _aren't you straight anyway_

From: Tory  
 _sure but I have guys I think look cool  
_ _mostly the ones I want to look like_

Lan sighed and tucked his hands under his head. He was well past the point of deluding himself into thinking the problem was wanting to look like Chaud. 

_...Yeah, I'd probably pull his hair. If it would make him happy, I'd do it._ Was that gay? Probably. Not like it'd be hard though. Also he still didn't get why pulling hair was supposed to be sexual. 

So what about hickeys? Hickeys made a little more sense because you got them while kissing people on the neck. (Lan was a little fuzzy on the logistics of this.) But it probably felt nice. And then it was like a badge of honor because people knew you'd been kissing. Would Chaud like hickeys? Could Lan do that for him? His eyes went a little unfocused as he tried to picture it. 

. _..Wow, I do not hate that._

He knew too that kissing and hickeys and probably hair pulling sometimes came with darkened rooms and less clothing. It was the kind of thing that had always seemed so shady before but if Chaud was there... If Chaud was there, that would be okay. His body warmed a little at the thought. _Maybe better than okay._ And it would mean getting Chaud's attention in a way that he'd never had it before.

He sucked in a deep breath. _Yes, that,_ something in his chest seemed to respond to. _Attention please. Exactly that, more attention._

Lan let the breath out through his nose. In and out. In and out. Until he could feel himself begin to calm. 

_Okay,_ he thought finally. _I think that's enough thinking for one night._ Rolling over, his mind drifted into that shadowy tv land that he always went to when slept. After that, it was surprisingly easy to drop off.

"Oh Lan!" Mrs. Hikari said when he came downstairs for breakfast the next morning. "A contractor called, do you know anything about that? He said he wanted to know if anyone would be here this week to come speak about an estimate."

Lan froze, spoon halfway to his mouth. Fortunately, his back was to her, so she couldn't see his expression. She had given him control over handling odd jobs around the house and that was what had let him get away with installing a kill switch on his own, but the sprinklers were proving to be more difficult. 

"Your father didn't change his mind did he? I thought we already agreed it was an expense we didn't need."

"It's Chaud." Lan said before he could stop himself. _Damnit._

"Chaud? What does that boy have to do with anything?"

Lan pasted a smile on his face and finally turned to face her. "BlazeQuest is diversifying!" Thank _God_ for econ class. "They're looking into buying a remodeling company. They picked us for a complimentary upgrade and they want our feedback about how these guys do!" He made his eyes go wide and innocent. Sure he was secretly footing the bill but it would be fine. He and MegaMan had enough money saved. They'd been making regular withdrawals from the account until they were sure to have enough on hand. 

"Oh! What a pleasant surprise." She smiled at him.

"That's okay right?" he said, overcome by the sudden urge to start packing his lunch for school. "Sorry I guess I should have asked. But you did make me in charge of this stuff, and it seemed like such a good deal..."

"Well I would prefer if you would check with us first next time," Mrs. Hikari said. "But you're right, a deal like that is just too good to pass up." 

"Yeah!" Lan was proud of himself for the way his voice didn't crack at all. Smooth as butter. "That's what I thought! Okay, I'm off." 

"Have a good day, sweetie!"

"You think that was a good idea Lan?" MegaMan asked when they were safely on the way.

"What was I supposed to say?"

MegaMan sighed in his ear. "You got me there." 

He poured on his long board's speed, feeling weirdly glad to have social studies first thing. They were watching the tape of MayLu's first chess match in Bright Land. She'd won, obviously, but Ms. Mari was going to be reviewing the history of strategies with them. Anyway, videos meant there was a lower chance that Lan was gonna get called on to speak. 

Arriving at school he settled into his usual seat next to Tory and Tory leaned over and said, "you know we could tell Dex if you want, but I think he's probably gonna start calling you 'Lover Boy.'" It was so familiar it made Lan laugh, smothering it in his knuckles so he wouldn't be too loud.

And just like that, the day started going fine.

Chaud had invited him to his motorcycle club, and Lan was trying not to be nervous about it. Sure, the idea of having to exist around Chaud and act like he didn't have a crush was intimidating, but hey. He had already known that he thought Chaud was the best. He was the smartest, the coolest, secretly the kindest, the most reliable...est person Lan knew. So realizing he was into the guy was a lot more about realizing that other people, for some reason, didn't see Chaud that way. And other people, for the record? Were wrong. 

It would be fine. 

He was riding on the back of Chaud's motorbike. This was something else he and Tory had talked about. _"Should I hold onto him while I ride? Isn't that a move?"_ Lan had asked.

_"Did you do that before?"_

_"No I usually just hold on with my knees."_

Tory looked mildly disappointed. _"I think it would be weird if you started now, sorry."_

Still, it threw him off balance a bit when Chaud pulled up, and pulled off his helmet and shook out his hair, just a little. He'd seen it a dozen times, and had even seen the students around them who stopped to look. But before, he'd always thought Chaud didn't give a damn who was looking at him. Now he wondered if Chaud liked that boys could look at him.

"Hey Lan."

And in spite of everything, Lan couldn't help the huge smile that split his face. "Chaud!" He eyed the motorcycle in confusion. "Is that yours?" It definitely wasn't Chaud's usual one. And it was... kind of boring looking honestly.

"I want to try my hand at customizing," Chaud said. "This model will be good for that."

"Must be nice to have money to burn."

"It's not easy being rich," Chaud said. He nodded over his shoulder, towards the storage compartments on the back. "Gear on."

Chaud had never explicitly said that the leather jacket and helmet he kept in the back was only for Lan but Lan didn't need to be told, really. His size was not exactly universal. It had made him happy the first time Chaud had shown him the jacket but as he zipped it up now, it made him happy all over again. He might not have any idea if Chaud even thought of him that way (here his happiness faltered for a moment) but no one else had their own protective gear in the back of Chaud's motorcycle. 

Chaud said something. Lan hummed absently in response. He'd taken his baseball cap off but hadn't moved to swap it out for his helmet yet.

The motorcycle lurched forward two feet.

"Ah!" Lan's hands gripped Chaud's waist for balance, his weight thrown forward for a moment against Chaud's back. "What was that for?" he demanded, glaring. 

Chaud twisted in his seat to make more direct eye contact. "Glad I've got your attention. Helmet on, space cadet." 

Lan was aware of his glare twisting into something more like a pout. Chaud's eyes sparkled in response. It was completely unthinkable that Tory didn't find that quiet humor attractive. 

Snatching his hands away from Chaud's waist, he stuffed his baseball cap into the side compartment and took out his helmet. 

"You better let me pick the music," he complained, activating the wireless function.

"I guess I can. I'm feeling generous."

\- -

Chaud was secretly pleased with how well he'd been able to fit into the little social group of the motorcycle club. It had only been a week but he thought he was getting a feel for the dynamic. It was possible it was a bad idea for him to bring Lan to visit, counterproductive even, but Lan wasn't the only one who thought it had been too long since they'd hung out.

It was also possible Chaud had a soft spot. 

He didn't have to part his new motorcycle in the shed like he had with his other one. If any hazing practices befell this model, all it would do was add character. "We're here," he said, a little redundantly once he'd parked. 

"Whoa!" He smiled a bit at the completely genuine awe in Lan's voice. "This is so cool!" There was that contagious energy. 

"Yeah," he agreed, sliding off the bike. "Come on I'll show you inside."

Ghiro and Jiro, Chaud had quickly learned, were joined at the hip. In the dozen or so hours he had already spent with the club, he had never seen one without the other, not even to go to the bathroom. They were sitting in the old cracked leather armchairs when Lan and Chaud came in.

"Chaud!" Jiro called. "Who's this?"

"Ghiro, Jiro, this is Lan."

"Who is he?" Jiro repeated, sitting forward, eyeing Chaud meaningfully. _Ah._

"He's my friend," Chaud said.

"Ohhh." Jiro nodded sagely. "Got it." Chaud shook his head slightly.

"Are you guys really named Ghiro and Jiro?" Lan asked, looking between them, perhaps for any kind of family resemblance.

"Well, 'Jiro' is short for Jiroshi," Jiro said, putting a broad hand to her chest. "And 'Ghiro' is actually a nickname." She tossed her head to indicate her friend.

"'Ghiro' means dormouse," Ghiro said with the air of someone who was used to having to explain this a lot. 

"No way, that's so cute," Lan said. "How'd you get that name?"

"My nonna named me that. When I was a kid I used to sleep curled into a ball." 

"You still do that," Jiro butted in. Ghiro frowned slightly.

“Do not.”

“Do too.”

"I'm gonna show Lan the rest of the place," Chaud said before they could really get going. 

"We'll follow you." Jiro slid off her chair. 

"Only if it's okay," Ghiro added. 

Chaud shrugged. "No skin off my nose."

The sitting room in the front was partially hidden from the back half by the front office, which was a small box-like room that jutted out from the wall. Past that, the back half opened up to reveal a pool table and a small battle zone. Beyond that was the back garage, with the doors that led to the track. Anyone who'd met Lan for five minutes could have told you which Lan was going to focus on first.

"You guys have netbattles here?"

"Sometimes!" Jiro said. "My navi HitMan is kinda the reigning champ around her." She was visibly puffing up with pride. "We've got a finishing technique that can take people out in one hit!"

"It's almost like," Ghiro began mildly.

"No—"

"You could almost call him—"

"Ghiro don't say it—"

"OnePunchMa—"

"Shut up!" Jiro had to jump to get them in a headlock but she managed it. Lan just laughed. 

"We should all battle sometime!" he said.

Jiro released Ghiro immediately. "We should! You battle?"

"Lan's almost as good as I am," Chaud commented just for the thrill he always got when Lan swung around to glare at him again. 

"How about try, 'you're almost as good as _me!_ '" 

"Yes that IS what I said, Lan." He closed his eyes calmly, just to be extra annoying. 

"You wanna suit up right now?"

"Hey Chaud!" someone called and they both turned to look. Chaud inhaled as subtly as he could. Lee.

"Good to see you," he said as Lee came closer. Chaud could already see him honing in on Lan.

"Who's your friend here?" Lee gave Lan his thousand-watt smile. 

"I'm Lan." Lan held out his hand and Lee took it. Chaud was not too proud to admit to himself that watching the two of them interact was a pretty picture. 

"Lee, nice to meet you. You're a tall one."

Chaud coughed to disguise his laugh as Lan's eyes widened comically. He knew Lan was used to people commenting on it, but Lee, he was starting to suspect, was one of those people who was universally flirtatious. 

"Yeah, I know," Lan said blankly, and Chaud had to turn away a little to school his expression back down. 

"Lee, lay off the fresh meat," Jiro said and Lan's wide eyes turned to her. Something occurred to Chaud.

"Can I show Lan the self-driving car?" he asked. 

"Sure, it's in its usual spot, I'll show you." Lee turned to lead them through to the garage. "Nice board," he said, nodding to where Lan's long board was still strapped behind his backpack. "Where'd you get it?"

"I built it," Lan said proudly. He reached around to unhook it from his bag.

"Oh damn. Really?' Lee took it as Lan held it out and turned it over, spotting the motor. "You build the motor too?" 

"Yup! It's actually got spring loaded pistons that get wound up by the axles. So the more you ride, the further you can ride, you know?" 

Lee, Chaud was proud to see, looked impressed. "That is actually genius." 

"Thanks!" Lan's grin came across a little cocky. "Everyone says I'm good with my hands." Chaud inhaled sharply. The assertion made Lee smile with all his teeth. Lan looked between him and Chaud, and seemed to be aware, though not how, that he'd misspoke. "I mean, uh, I like making things, not just learning about them, you know?"

Lee's expression softened. "I get you," he soothed. "Wanna take a look under the hood of this bad boy?" He slapped the roof of the car.

"Yeah, that would be awesome."

"Lan's thinking about making a long board that a net navi could drive," Chaud said. "You should show him the circuit board."

"Ohh good idea." Lee opened the driver's door and slid into the seat. 

"Hey didn't you say Miyu was going to be here today?" Lan asked, glancing around the shop. 

"She's out on the track," Lee called. His hand slid under the dashboard until he found the hood release. "She's giving the others a safety demo." 

"Oh." Lan seemed to think about this. "Why aren't all of you out there then?"

"We're senior members," Lee said. "We've seen it before." Climbing back out of the driver's seat he said, "Alright, let's show you what this baby's working with." 

It was surprisingly nice, Chaud was realizing. To be with people he liked and talk about things that he was interested in. To watch Lee as he explained how the circuit board connected to the engine, and see Lan following along with rapt attention. It was nice to be the one to introduce _Lan_ to people for a change, not the other way around. Maybe he was here to meet people who weren't Lan but it still felt natural to let Lan be a part of it.

"Actually, you know what I need to do before I forget?" Lee said at some point. "I keep wanting to check the air pressure in the tires. Lan, you ever done that before?" 

"No," Lan admitted, interest piqued.

"I'll show you, just one second." 

A movement out of the corner of his eye drew Chaud’s attention at that moment. "Lee," he said, frowning back towards the front office. "Do you know those two?"

Lee followed his gaze towards the man and the woman in leather jackets who were looking around somewhat awkwardly. "Oh, they might be from the biker group down the road." He scanned the garage. "Where'd Jiro and Ghiro go?" Then he sighed. "Maybe they went outside. Sorry, Chaud, can you go see what they need? I'll be right there."

Chaud's eyebrows ticked upwards but he nodded. "Sure." 

Leaving Lan to help Lee look around on the top shelf for the air pressure gage, Chaud made his way back towards the front office. "Can I help you?" he asked. 

"We're looking for the owner, is she here?" 

_The owner..._ Chaud remembered the grey haired lady with the spiked collar who'd come to the race his first Saturday here. He actually had no idea if she was here at all. Or how often she actually was on site.

"I can find out for you," he said politely. "Can I know what it's about?"

"We've been discussing a mixer with all the clubs in the area," the man said. "She'll remember." 

"Okay." This didn't mean much to Chaud, but that seemed reasonable. He glanced back to the garage and it seemed Lee and Lan had decided to go ahead and check the tire pressure. Lan glanced over at him and gave a wave. He sighed internally. Carefree types. "Would you care to sit while you wait?" he asked, indicating the old leather chairs by the front door.

"Sure," the man asked. "Thanks." 

They settled in and Chaud resolved that this seemed like a reasonable point to leave, when the woman spoke up for the first time. "That one of your bikes out front?" 

Chaud was surprised, but he recovered. "Yeah actually. The Aero."

"That's a pretty basic model."

"I know," Chaud said. "That's why I bought it." He studied this woman's face for a moment. Her purple lipstick reminded him too much of Ms. Yuri. He could feel a frown starting to form. 

"Couldn't afford something better huh?"

 _Lady, you have no idea,_ Chaud thought drily. "I liked the idea of customizing it on my own."

"How long you been riding for?" She was looking him over too much for his liking.

"About a year." 

Leaning forward in her chair, she propped her chin on one hand and smiled far too sweetly. "You eighteen, honey?"

A faint alarm went off in Chaud’s head. He felt his posture become even more closed down, though he knew to strangers there would be no visible change. "I don't see why that's relevant," he said. 

"Come on," the man said mildly. "Leave the kid alone."

"I'm just being friendly," the woman insisted. "Nothing wrong with wanting to know if someone's legal, right?" 

There was the sound of familiar footsteps behind him and then Lan's arm was sliding around his shoulders. "Hey Chaud, what's up?" 

Chaud felt his eyes widen slightly. He looked up at Lan. Lan was looking at these newcomers with something like his game face. 

"Who's your friend?" He watched the lady's eyes travel up Lan's body.

"Who are _you?_ " Lan asked. He leaned his weight more fully on Chaud's shoulder.

"Hey there, welcome," said a smooth voice. And just like that, Lee was there. "You must be our neighbors." He gave Chaud an encouraging smile. "You wanna go get you and Lan something out of the fridge?" 

"Sounds good!" Lan tugged with his arm and Chaud found himself in the unfamiliar position of being herded out of sight.

The fridge was an honor system. He watched Lan read the instructions on the front and then take some money out of his wallet and drop it into the coin box. "Which one do you want?" he asked Chaud, surveying the selection of sodas. 

Chaud frowned. His brain wasn't quite working and he wasn't sure why. Nothing had happened. Less than nothing. He'd dealt with worse a thousand times.

"Hey." Lan closed the fridge door and turned to face him more fully. "You okay?" 

"I'm fine Lan," he said. "Nothing happened." 

"Yeah but you looked upset you know?"

"No I didn't."

"I mean, not to other people," Lan admitted. "But come on. I know you, Chaud."

For the second time in an hour, Chaud inhaled sharply. His gaze fell to the ground. "You do." He knew Lan would understand if he explained it, how seeing someone who reminded you of someone bad could really mess with your head. And that was without the weirdly, overly friendly manner. But even now they weren't exactly alone and that made him feel muzzled.

Lan came and leaned against the table next to Chaud, shoulder to shoulder. He could feel the warmth of Lan's side seeping into him as Lan looked at him and looked away. Looked back at him. Held out his hand, palm flat towards the ceiling.

"Here," he said. 

Chaud looked at him in confusion but Lan had that look that said he was not about to take no for an answer right now. Slowly he reached out with his own hand until their palms were pressed together. He watched Lan's face, and saw how intently he was studying them.

"Your hands are _really_ small," he said with an absolutely surreal sincerity. Chaud yanked his hand away like he'd been burned. Lee, who'd just been coming around the corner at that moment, barked a laugh.

"Hey that's not nice Lan," he said, taking in the two of them. "Also I thought you were going to get something from the fridge."

Lan was wearing a face that meant he clearly had no idea what he'd said. "Oh right," he opted for, pushing up off the table. Chaud felt it slide back an inch or two as he stood. "What did you want from here?"

"Just iced tea is fine," Chaud said, feeling a little bit like he'd tipped his hand.

As Lan handed the bottle over, Lee said, "Hey Lan, those two are gone now, so do you mind doing a lap? I need to talk to Chaud."

Lan's eyes widened a bit. "Okay..." He looked between Lee and Chaud but whatever expression was on Chaud's face seemed to reassure him.

"It's okay, Lan," Chaud confirmed.

"Alright. Just holler when you're done." And Lan slipped away towards the back of the garage. 

Once they were alone, Lee leaned a shoulder against the fridge and looked down at him, grey eyes kind. He was probably about 6'2", Chaud guessed. And something in his smile reminded Chaud of ProtoMan.

"You good?" Lee asked.

"Do I not seem good?" He was startled and that made him defensive.

"I gotta be honest," Lee said. "You seemed the exact same to me. But Lan seemed upset so that's what I'm basing it off of." He tried a smile. "You know how they say the best way to know if someone likes you is looking at their best friend's face?"

Chaud looked at him uncertainly. "...No."

"Well trust me. It's prime life advice. And, turns out, it works for a lot of other stuff too. I didn't know you weren't comfortable. But Lan did." He took a moment to examine Chaud's face as if looking for his tell. Chaud looked back impassively. He liked Lee but openness still didn't come easy to him.

"Anyway," Lee continued. "Now's as good a time as any to tell you; we have a kind of no-fly list around here."

"A what?"

"If any adult who comes through those doors makes you uncomfortable, you let Miyu or one of us senior club people know. We’ll mark them down as persona non-grata. No questions asked." Chaud could feel himself frowning but Lee continued. "It's a promise we make to every club member. I'm not trying to single you out or anything."

"But nothing even happened," Chaud said. 

Lee studied him for a moment longer. Then he reached into the fridge and pulled out some kind of blue sports drink. "Look, a few things,” he said, cracking it open. “First off, I get it. I don't come from a world where anyone gives a shit if the teenagers feel safe. It definitely makes it hard to adjust to when you wind up in a place that does. Second off, you seem like a smart guy. You understand how escalation works. Maybe the first time they just say something that was a little weird. Then maybe next time they stand too close to you. Then the third time... We don't know." He twisted the cap off his drink and then held up a hand to forestall any argument Chaud might make. "Also last thing; whatever they said to you, if someone had said that to Lan or someone else you care about, would you say 'nothing happened?'"

Chaud paused to actually think about this. A clearly middle-aged woman asking if Lan was legal yet? Black anger flared in his stomach, but all he did was sigh. Turning back to Lee he said, "You win."

"Glad to hear it." Lee took a sip of his drink. "Also, it doesn't have to be anything too dramatic. We can just make a note that if they show up again, no one should be alone with them." 

"That." Chaud breathed. "That seems reasonable."

"Good." Lee dug out the money for his drink out of his pocket and put it in the honesty box. "Let's make a note, then we'll go find your boy." 

_My boy._ Chaud pushed himself up off the table and followed Lee towards the office, a slight smile on his face. "Hey Lee," he said, as something occurred to him. Lee was pulling an unmarked red binder down off the shelf.

"This is the only copy," he told Chaud. "We don't even keep a digital record." Then the fact that Chaud had spoken appeared to register. "Sorry what?"

"How old are you?"

"Oh. Nineteen."

Chaud turned this over. "Are you a big brother?"

Lee grinned. "Yeah, how'd you know?"

"Lucky guess."

Lee made a few notes, appearing to have gotten the people's names before they left, and once he'd returned the binder to the shelf, they went back out into the garage and he called to Lan in a loud voice, "So you wanna get up on a motorcycle, big guy?"

And Chaud was able to relax again.

Lan's mom was picking him up after club time ended. They had some errands to run together. He and Lan waited together on the curb, talking about everything and anything. The current topic of choice was action movies.

"Drive Furious and Far Too Furious have _way_ too similar names," Lan was saying. "It's a sign!"

"You can have a similar name and not take place in the same cinematic universe," Chaud said, pretending to be exasperated. 

"Sure, but what would be the fun of that? Far Too Furious has already done everything! But you know what they haven't done yet? Gone to Hell!"

Chaud snorted and Lan seemed to take this as a success. He had his arms draped over his knees and he laid his temple on one now, and looked over at Chaud and grinned. Chaud smiled back at him and tried not to contemplate too openly how handsome Lan could be. 

But then of course Lan's face had to turn serious. "Hey, listen, I'm really sorry about what I said about your hands earlier." And immediately the mood was gone.

 _Oh right,_ Chaud thought, trying not to be embarrassed, turning to stare out into the street. _He doesn't think of you that way. He doesn't think of_ anyone _that way._ "Just let it go, please."

"Are you sure?"

"Yup." He knew Lan would be able to hear the tightness in his voice and willed himself to calm down.

"Chaud—"

"Oh look. Your mom's here." And sure enough, Mrs. Hikari's car was pulling up the laneway. 

"Oh." Lan got to his feet. He looked down at Chaud like he wanted to press the issue again, but just reached a hand down to help him to his feet. "Well, good hanging with you today!"

"You too," Chaud assured him. 

"Talk to you later?"

"Yeah." He watched Lan jog over to the car, longboard tucked under one arm. To his surprise, as Lan got into the car, his mom got out. He watched her turn around to say something to Lan and then watched her start to walk towards Chaud at the curb. Lan scrambled back out of the car.

Chaud stared.

"Chaud, honey!" Mrs. Hikari said. Lan's expression over her shoulder was wild, panicked. "Lan told me about your offer, and I just wanted to say thank you!"

Chaud's face didn't change. He made eye contact with Lan, still looking panicked and now also slightly defeated. "It's no problem at all," he said, smoothly. If Lan was lying to his mom about something, then Chaud was lying too. "Did you talk it over?"

"Well I told him I hope he doesn't get into the habit of renovating the house without telling us. It's just too good of a deal to pass up though. You know, when he first brought up installing a sprinkler system, his father and I said, well of course, we said it's too expensive you know, but now with your company taking care of it—"

A lightbulb went off over Chaud's head. The black anger flared up in him again, until his whole body was crackling with it. This was the woman whose son had once seen his best friend get dissolved in front him and she had failed to understand why he was depressed. "You know, I'm actually so glad you brought it up," he said with perfect calm. "I don't have my checkbook on me right now, but how about I swing by later? I'll write you the check and we'll get it out of the way." 

"Oh! That's too kind. But your contractor hasn't even given us an estimate yet!"

"I trust you Mrs. Hikari," Chaud lied. "I'll leave the amount blank."

Mrs. Hikari's face had lit up like Christmas had come early. "Oh my, I never thought someone would ever be handing little old me a blank check! This is too exciting." Chaud's gaze flickered over her shoulder to Lan's face again. It seemed like he couldn't quite hear what they were saying. 

"Just a day in the life, ma'am," Chaud said. "I'll come by as soon as I can."

"Well if you make it in time for dinner, be ready to stick around! I'm making beefsteak and curry tonight!"

"Sounds good." Chaud watched her get back into the car. Watched Lan fold himself down after her. He hadn't really meant to but he stared after their car until it disappeared from sight, trying to calm himself down.

For some people, like Chaud, there was a raging feral protectiveness that came hand in hand with love.

"ProtoMan," he said. "Did you know about this?"

"MegaMan mentioned something," ProtoMan said. "I had no idea it was like this." He sounded a little hurt.

Chaud knew the feeling.

"We're getting my checkbook," he said. "And we're going straight to the Hikari's afterward."

"Fine by me."

The ride back to his house was a decent length already, but to Chaud in that moment it felt like an eternity. He may have run a few too many yellow lights. He was _definitely_ speeding. 

This was extravagant of him. It was too much by middle class standards and he knew it. It was reminiscent of 13-year-old him, flying out actors from Sharo because Lan was disappointed about not being able to rent a movie. And Chaud was fairly certain he didn't care. He couldn't fix Lan's family for him, but he could fix this.

"I could call ahead," ProtoMan's voice echoed inside his helmet. "They could have the checkbook waiting for you."

"Do it." 

The ride over to Lan's house was just as long and agonizing. But he made himself park carefully in the lane, stow his helmet and jacket properly, and walk up to the front door like everything was fine.

When Lan's parents weren't home, Chaud tended to let himself in. As it was, his mom must have seen him coming because she opened the door as he came up the front. "Chaud! That was so fast. Dinner's not ready yet, do you want to go see Lan? He's up in his room."

"Certainly. But before I forget," as if he’d forget, "do you have a pen?"

"Oh. Yes, let me get you one."

Mrs. Hikari was a woman who seemed to live entirely in her own world. She didn't even look at Chaud as he sat at her dining room table and filled out the check. Maybe this was for the best. It didn't give her a chance to comment when he very deliberately made it out to Dr, Mrs. and Lan Hikari so that they had to put it in the joint account that Lan's net saver salary went into. She didn't even notice, as Chaud folded the check in half, slipped it into his pocket and climbed the stairs to Lan's room.

Lan's voice could be heard coming through the doorway. Upset about something, and clearly not expecting anyone to overhear. "But first I didn't even get flirting right!” 

Chaud's eyes went wide. His pulse jumped. _Flirting?_

“And now my mom's gonna make him pay for the install!" 

"We can fix it Lan," MegaMan's voice said patiently.

"MegaMan, this is like the exact definition of a mess. He probably hates me!"

Chaud's hand moved on its own and before he knew it, he was flinging the door wide open. " _Who_ hates you?"

"Chaud!" And for probably the second time in his entire life, Chaud saw Lan Hikari go bright red. He was propped on his hands on his bed, clearly scrambling to gather his wits.

Chaud folded his arms over his chest. "Who hates you Lan?" he repeated calmly. Belatedly he noticed MegaMan sitting with his back to the sliding glass door. 

"I— Chaud—" 

"Because we've known each other long enough, you should know I don't just give money to people I hate." _Flirting,_ some part of his brain echoed. _He said flirting._

"Y-You're not really gonna pay for this are you? You can't!"

"Lan I've already made up my mind, so you might as well just let it go."

"But it's too much," Lan insisted. 

"Why?" 

"What?"

" _Why?_ " Chaud said again. He shoved his arms more tightly over his chest. His heart was hammering. "Why is it too much? I can afford it."

"But..." Lan looked at MegaMan for help.

"He's got a point, Lan," MegaMan said. 

"Of course I do. Look Lan," Chaud said, bursting with impatience. "Did you say you were flirting with me earlier?"

Lan squeaked, honest-to-God _squeaked_ and scrambled backward on his bed. "M-maybe. I'm sorry. It won't happen again." He looked so lost. 

"Why not?" 

"What is this, an interrogation?" Lan demanded. "Should I get my lawyer?" 

MegaMan looked like he was trying to figure out a subtle way to blink out of the room. 

"Look. You know I don't like to assume," Chaud said. He was feeling a little lost too. "But if you want to flirt with me, you could keep doing it." It was very warm in here. "If you want."

Now it was Lan's turn to ask, "What? Why?"

Chaud glared. "What do you mean why? Are you going to make you say it?"

"Maybe!?" Lan sounded slightly hysterical. "Listen... I don’t really know what I’m doing, and I've kind of been trying to do things tactfully but it never works!”

“Is that what the hands thing was about?” Chaud was probably hallucinating, he decided. This was ridiculous. “Was that the flirting?”

“I think your hands look pretty in mine! So sue me!”

“ _That’s not what you said_!” Chaud paused. “Also how dare you say something so smooth right now.”

Lan looked like he didn’t have any idea what to make of this, so he just said, “Look Chaud. I’m not good at this okay? Can’t you just tell me what you’re thinking?"

That made him still. Drawing his courage around himself, he opened his mouth to speak again. "Lan, I'm sure most people know I have a crush on you."

The hellish anger of the past hour was completely justified by the way Lan's face lit up. "No way," he breathed. "Everyone knows I have a crush on you too!" He leaned forward excitedly. Chaud, suddenly a little breathless, sat heavily at the end of his bed.

"You do?"

"Yeah!" Lan was watching him with wide, serious eyes. Chaud met his gaze, hardly daring to blink. "I mean, I'll be real this is all really new to me, but I know what I want out of it. I mean. If you want."

"If I want what?" His fingers tightened over Lan's blanket. They might have been shaking. He’d liked this boy for _years_.

"To go out with me!" Lan searched his face anxiously. "I want you to go out with me. And show me." 

His powers of speech appeared to be dwindling by the moment. "Show you." 

"Yeah! I..." He could see Lan visibly swallow. "I want to know about all this stuff if it's with you, Chaud." 

Lan's door was open. His mom was just downstairs. But a surreptitious glance around the room confirmed that MegaMan had indeed managed to slip away at some point. He felt a slow smile come across his face. “Yeah?”

“Yeah!”

"Get over here then." 

And Lan scrambled forward until Chaud was forced to scoot back, his back against the wall. He took Lan's jaw in both his hands to steady him which turned out to be a good idea. Lan managed to hold eye contact, brown eyes to blue, for approximately one second before he was pressing a kiss to the corner of Chaud’s mouth so enthusiastically that Chaud's head bumped against the wall. 

"Ow!" But he was laughing as he said it, and Lan was kneeling over him, running a hand over the back of his head.

"I'm sorry! Chaud are you okay?"

"I'm okay." Chaud felt his eyes sparkling. His hands found the front of Lan's shirt. "Come _on_." And Lan leaned down to kiss him again, more carefully this time, one large hand still cradling the back of Chaud's head.

Neither of them really knew how to kiss, but as Lan moved one leg so he was pretty much in Chaud's lap, Chaud tried and failed to remember the last time he'd been this happy. If he and Lan were together then. Then. Chaud didn't even have words to describe how right that made the world. Of _course_ he had to be with Lan. Who knew him better? Who _was_ better, as a person and as a friend? Who made him laugh harder, who else could keep up with him at everything he really cared about? 

"Boys!" Mrs. Hikari called and they both jumped. "Dinner's ready!"

Lan stared at him shyly for a second and then laughed. "Guess we should go." He pulled his hand away from the back of Chaud's head but otherwise made no move to leave. 

"Yeah." Chaud made no move to go either. 

"Hey, are you my boyfriend now?"

"I." He was probably smiling like an idiot. "Obviously."

Lan lifted both of Chaud's hands in each of his and laced their fingers together. Leaning forward so that Chaud's hands were supporting most of his weight, he nuzzled his face against Chaud's forehead. "Boyfriend." It came out in a quiet voice Chaud hadn't been fully aware Lan possessed. 

Chaud closed his eyes. Happy. "Hi boyfriend."

"Boys! Are you coming?"

"Coming Mom!" Lan called out the door. With obvious reluctance, he climbed off the bed and off Chaud. "Um," he said as Chaud got up too. "Your hair." 

"Oh." Chaud ran his fingers through it, attempting to smooth it down. "Is that better?"

"Here, let me." He stood patiently, a little dazed, as Lan combed it with his fingers. "There." Then, "Um." Lan looked shy again. "Are you okay with holding hands in front of my mom?"

His heart felt warm. He couldn’t help it—that was cute. But then he remembered what had brought him to this house in the first place. He was too annoyed with Mrs. Hikari today and this was too precious and new for him to want her fawning over it. "Not yet," he said quietly. "Is that okay?"

"Totally okay!" Lan assured him. He started to head for the door.

"Lan," Chaud said before he could stop himself. And Lan turned back to look at him. "Hold my hand on the stairs."

Lan's smile in that moment was life-changing. "Okay!" 

"Well," ProtoMan's voice rang out smugly. " _This_ is a development."

"Shut up," Chaud said calmly.

"Aw, leave them alone ProtoMan," MegaMan's voice said fondly. "They've earned it."

“ _Yeah_ we have!” Lan took Chaud's hand in his and they went down to dinner together. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading! I was really happy to find an audience <3

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! A few more notes:  
> 1\. I rewatched this show in quarantine this past summer and considering how much Lan both eats and sleeps, puberty is going to hit him like a truck.  
> 2\. If you watch the episode where Chaud shows up, he literally just locks eyes with Lan across a crowded arcade in the morning, says zero words to him, and somehow knows exactly where to find him when the sun goes down later that day. Comedy gold.


End file.
